Worship Wednesday: A Call to Worship

A couple of weeks ago, I was given a wonderful opportunity. Praise 96.3 FM, the local radio station that Mr. The King works for, gave me the opportunity to host a Praise and Worship Program on Saturday evenings called, A Call to Worship. I get to lead a radio audience in worship for the duration of this hour long program. I play worship music and offer insights regarding worship. I tell the story behind a worship song in the segment called, Behind the Song, and I dive into the word to look at the scriptural basis for certain worship songs in the segment called, Worship and the Word. This is such an exciting opportunity for me and for the last two weeks, I have been enjoying every minute of it. It has become a great time of personal worship for me as well.

Today, I want to share a song, some scripture, and some thoughts that God has given me for the Worship and the Word segment of the program coming up this week.

There is a verse from the Psalms that I have remembered since childhood. This verse has always been easy for me to recall and has been one of my favorites...

O taste and see that the Lord is good...

That is the part of Psalm 34:8 that I always remembered and quoted. As a child, I am not sure why I was drawn to this verse. After all, I didn't really understand what it meant. Taste the Lord? What was that supposed to mean, I often thought. Yet still, I was drawn to the verse, and maybe that was because I truly wanted to believe in a good God.

When I was in college and interning in the children's music department at a church in my hometown, Psalm 34:8 came to the forefront of my mind once again. At that time, all of the staff at the church had been given bricks to decorate in some way. I don't remember the reason why we were given the bricks, or what they were supposed to symbolize, but I know that it was a project that I enjoyed and threw myself into. I decorated my brick with none other than Psalm 34:8, and to this day, that brick reminds me that the Lord is good!

I guess you could say that my brick symbolizes the foundational truth that the Lord is good. When I decorated the brick with that verse, I was just beginning to taste and see the goodness of the Lord. I was just beginning to come into that foundational knowledge. I had no idea at the time that years later, I would hunger to taste more and more of that goodness and that I would be changed so drastically just by living out Psalm 34:8 and the verses and chapters surrounding it. 

Let's taste and see the goodness of the Lord right now by looking at more scripture from the Psalms:

Psalm 30:11-12

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.

    You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,

that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.

    O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

Psalm 34:1-10

I will praise the Lord at all times.

    I will constantly speak his praises.

I will boast only in the Lord;

    let all who are helpless take heart.

Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;

    let us exalt his name together.

 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.

    He freed me from all my fears.

Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;

    no shadow of shame will darken their faces.

In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened;

    he saved me from all my troubles.

For the angel of the Lord is a guard;

    he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

    Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Fear the Lord, you his godly people,

    for those who fear him will have all they need.

Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry,

    but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.

Believing and living those verses has, at times, been a real struggle, but it has also been an act of sacrificial worship that has changed my heart and freed me...and given me joy. He truly is a good good God...all of the time! He hears us, He takes care of us, and He fills our deepest hunger with good things. We can expect to be satisfied in Him and only in Him!

It wasn't very long ago that I was made aware of this song by Brian and Jenn Johnson that is based on the verses that we have just looked at. I love to sing this song, it really aligns my heart into a place of joyful worship, and if you are anything like me, you will get it stuck in your head and find yourself singing it to the Lord all day.

O Taste & See