Number 111:  May 31, 2007

This weekend is our annual Youth Advance. This is often called a retreat, but we consider it a time to advance rather than retreat. The theme verse is from Psalm 34.

Psalm 34:8:

O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

When one tastes and sees something it signifies personal interaction; more than just a casual acquaintance with the object of one’s attention. We are to taste and see how good God is. Get totally involved with Him. Then you can learn to trust God at His Word. It is hard to trust anyone if you do not know them. Get intimate with God, He cares for you.

The goodness of God started in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. He stocked it with whatever natural resources, and the right amounts of these resources, that would be necessary to sustain life and meet mankind’s needs throughout the centuries. When God made, formed, and created His first humans, He put them in the Garden of Eden. He didn’t put them in south Philly, but rather in paradise where all their needs were met. He gave them all the trees to eat from, except one. It wasn’t where He told them all the trees were His and they had only one tree they could eat from and it had putrid fruit. No. He supplied them with the best. Words like pleasant and good are used to describe their food. He didn’t charge them ridiculous rent to live in the garden either. He simply asked for obedience.

Genesis 2:8 and 9a:

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…

When His people, the children of Israel, were in captivity in Egypt, God sent the most trained and capable man perhaps of all time, next to Jesus Christ, to oversee the exodus. He led them through the wilderness with a clear guide, the pillars of cloud and fire. He fed them with an all you eat buffet of angel food. Then He led them to the Great Salt Lake. No. He gave them a beautiful land flowing with milk and honey, loaded with natural resources. Then for all of mankind He sent a complete perfect sacrifice.

John 3:16 and 17:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Is this a good God? Is this a God worthy of tasting? Try Him, you won’t be disappointed!