Psalm 34:8, "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."

  This morning, there is much about the spiritual kingdom that the world has never nor will ever understand.  To see the kingdom by spiritual sense, many times we have to remove the natural perceptions of things.  For example, the number of God's faithful in the earth at any given time throughout history has been relatively small in comparison with humanity in general.  Natural man puts emphasis and importance on superior numbers, thereby making it inconceivable to natural sense that a faithful few would be where truth, strength, and majesty are found.  Another brief example shows that natural man puts high importance on might or strength.  Yet, the Lord's kingdom is oftentimes seen through a poor and afflicted people that are neither strong in natural riches, physical beauty, or inellectual prowess.  Yet, many times, these poor and afflicted realize and sense real strength, real beauty, and real intellect (of a spiritual design) through their poor and afflicted state.

  One of the things that never ceases to amaze me when reading from the Scriptures is the seeming irony of different circumstances.  When things seem to be going so poorly, we find some of the most wonderful descriptions of joyful praise by God's saints.  For example, Paul and Silas were thrown in prison for preaching the gospel in Acts 16, but that miserable situation included a "midnight singing" by those two faithful men that eventually led to their own jailor's conversion.  What a scene that must have been, and how equally incomprehensible is that to natural sense!  Our study verse above shows a similar situation that behooves us well to consider for our own edification and strenghtening in our service here below.

  David's psalms have a broad spectrum of tone.  Some of them exalt God with praises of the highest order (Psalm 8), others show some of the most sorrowful suffering (Psalm 51), others give grand doctrinal discourses (Psalm 139), others prophesy of Christ (Psalm 22), and yet others are very petitionary (Psalm 38).  Some of these psalms have a tone that we would expect – David's sorrow in Psalm 51 comes on the heels of his transgression in murdering a man after taking his wife.  However, some (like ours under consideration) have tones that we would not expect due to the nature of the circumstances.

  Psalm 34 has a tone of rejoicing in the excellency of God, rejoicing in His name, and displays one of the "happier psalms" that we have recorded.  Yet, what is the circumstance during its composition?  The title points us to a very odd time in David's life.  This writing occurred while he feigned himself as a madmen to save his own life from the Philistines. (I Samuel 21) The circumstances in David's life were less than pleasant and certainly quite undesirable: king Saul sought his life, he has fled his home country, and now finds himself in the land of his enemy.  His enemies recognize him for who he is.  When David arrives in the land, the inhabitants remark to their king that this is the one who the women sang praises as having slain his "ten thousands."  To top it all off, what city was David in?  He finds himself in Gath: Goliath's home town.  Doubtless, the inhabitants of the city recalled to mind that this man before them was the one that dashed their hopes those years ago on the battlefield by destroying their champion – the city's "pride and joy."

  Putting ourselves in David's position for a moment, what would be a probable "knee-jerk" response?  My own thoughts would probably include some complaint of, "Why me?  What have I done?  Why is all this happening?"  Instead, David does not complain about his situation and further does the "unthinkable."  His behaviour was the last thing the Philistines would have expected.  He humbled himself to act like a madmen in their sight.  He pawed at the doors of houses and let his spit run down his beard like a clinically insane person.  Yet, Psalm 34 dictates for us his spiritual appearance.  He rejoiced!  Further still, he was in a position to understand some things perhaps better than he had before.

  Our verse commands two senses to be put to use in a spiritual way.  While we do have natural sight and taste, the verse primarily directs us to focus our spiritual senses of sight and taste upon God and see Him for how He truly is.  He is good, and He does not fail to bless those that trust in Him.  David could have laid in the dust and declared, "I have been faithful to God, and I am still in peril."  Instead, he rejoiced in God even in the midst of his tribulations and peril.  By doing so, he focused his senses upon One more worthy than himself.  Whenever we focus our thoughts, affections, senses, and appetites upon ourselves, we declare (by those actions) that we consider ourselves more worthy than anyone or anything else.  Yet, if we focus those same actions upon God, those actions state that we honour God as being more worthy than anyone or anything else.

  In today's climate, I fear that far too many professing Christians have taken rich and vital words and regulated them to an "intellectual level."  When most people talk of theological words such as grace, mercy, hope, faith, etc., they are theological concepts that we hear about in church.  That is regrettably where the story ends for many.  I have even heard such shuddering thoughts as, "If all I had was hope, I wouldn't have anything."  Friends, these words like hope, grace, and mercy are more than just words.  They are concepts that flow from the fountain of God that deserve our spiritual senses' attention.

  Grace should be seen as something to "sink our teeth into" and taste with the spiritual man. (I Peter 2:3-5) Grace is to be tasted and used for strength to the soul.  Hearing about free grace should excite the new man like nothing else, for that concept – when properly seen and tasted – will grant the true nourishment that we need to walk acceptably and war a good warfare in this life.  Mercy is a delight to be honoured, for the sight of mercy should immediately stir in us the reverence that God deserves from us.  He has spared us from perils so great that our mind cannot fathom, and seeing that sight should make us desire to honour Him.  Faith and hope are great pieces of armour that keep our heads and bodies safe from being swept away by the wiles of the devil. (Ephesians 6) Our helmet and shield should ever be found in their proper place, and should they be so, our sight of the Lord will not be diminished by the circumstances of life no matter how badly they seem.

  Let us consider David again for a moment.  Here is the man that was blessed to kill a giant against seemingly insurmountable odds.  Here is one that has already been anointed as king over Israel even though he has not yet ascended the throne.  More than that, here is one that God had closely fellowshipped with both publicly and privately.  Let us ponder for a moment our own lives.  Has God blessed us to overcome "a giant" in our lives against insurmountable circumstances, anointed us as kings and priests in this world, and fellowshipped with us pubicly in His house and privately in prayer and study?  During those great feast seasons with God, doubtless we feel His strength in our lives.  Grace, mercy, peace, faith, hope, and love seem both real, rich, and alive.

  Now let us consider down moments in our lives?  Is God's grace, mercy, peace and less real?  Do faith, hope, and love lose their power and might?  No, they do not, even though many times our perception of them seems that they have.  Instead of thinking that these rich and vital things in our lives have lost their strength, sometimes we need to pull our sight and taste past the immediate and natural things.  And yes, sometimes we may even have to abase ourselves.  God told Paul that His strength was made perfect in weakness, and His grace was still sufficient for him.  Doubtless, Paul would have preferred God to just remove the thorn, and equally doubtless, David would have preferred not to be in the land of the enemy and at odds with Saul.  God could have removed that problem immediately, but instead, David continually had sufficient grace for his peril.  Today friends, there is still sufficient grace for our perils and problems.  We may even find ourselves abased and as "madmen" in the sight of those our own enemies.

  It is regrettably easy for the flesh to say, "I won't do that."  Goliath was David's defeated foe, but David acted like one of the dogs of the street in Goliath's own hometown.  This was not a lack of faith on David's part (as this Psalm shows), but rather, it displays for us the humility that David was willing to endure against himself all the while rejoicing in the Lord.  Considering that our Lord humbled Himself beyond the base state of a crazy person even to endure mocking, cruelty, and death at the hands of His vast inferiors, it truly is no great thing if we are abased in this world but still rejoice in spirit for that rich grace and mercy.  May the taste and sight of our Lord and HIs glorious work unto us – both for what He has done and for what He will yet do for us – encourage us not to focus our senses tightly upon this vanity under the sun but instead into the bright, shining portal above.  It does truly make no sense to the world, but may our senses have that good sense.

  In Hope,

  Bro Philip

Psalm 106:4-5, “Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.”

This morning, ease of communication lends to lack of close familiarity. One might think that easier communication would tend to help us know more about each other and learn more with one another. In a great many ways, however, today’s modern communication has merely heightened the trivial aspects of our life and suppressed the truly meaningful parts. In olden times when people visited with each other, how often did they get to have such occasions? With the rarity of those circumstances, they partook in meaningful conversations, discussed the truly important things of life, and supremely enjoyed the fleeting moments they had together. With the advent of e-mail, telephone, and other instant mediums, we talk more about less with one another. Also, due to the ease of modern communication, we tend to refuse to believe the “too good to be true” news and want to latch onto the “so bad it has to be true” news.

When looking at the subject of visitation, we see that good visitation happens when we are observant, pay attention, and number up things (in a sense of reckoning) that occur during that time. For example, when my natural family gathered with extended natural family during a vacation, reunion, etc., there was much time spent in gathering or numbering information as everyone got “caught up” on what was happening in each other’s lives. What was the news? After extended periods of conversation, these things were reckoned up as the important aspects of our time together. How much more when we receive visitation from on high? What truly should garner our conversation with our Lord? What is the most intimate subject matter that we could get “caught up” on with Him?

Today’s internet and e-mail mediums are attacked quite often by people posing as someone or something that they are not. Have you ever received an e-mail claiming to be the FBI director, an ambassador from some foreign land, or another form of dignitary? Most often, these so-called dignitaries have vast sums of money at their disposal that could be yours if you would just help them with one little detail. These pleas are quickly passed into the cyberspace version of file 13, but consider how hard it might be if you really were one of these dignitaries trying to convey that through these impersonal mediums. What would one of them have to do to convince you that they really were who they said they were? Should they really have good news – like vast sums of money that would be yours – what would it take for them to convince you that it was on the level?

Furthermore, should you know that one of these dignitaries was real and really going to interact with you, how would you prepare for their eventual visit? Knowing that the interaction would eventually move from the impersonal to the personal, what steps would you take to ready your house for their visit? Again, how much more should our belief and preparation be from our Dignitary on High? Far better than any earthly king or magistrate, our King of glory visits with His people with the greatest news that the world could imagine. This visitation is preceded by evidence and proof of the Giver, and the attendance from on high is validated in every point.

While modern day communications have ease of conveyance, most are still impersonal at best. God’s communications quite easily convey messages, but they are quite personal as well. God has no problem conveying the message of His law and precepts to the heart of His children in the new birth. After that great work, He has no problem conveying the impression of His Spirit to us by His providence. While we, His people, do not always listen to the impression as we should, the communication is not hard. On the flip side, communicating with Him is not nearly as difficult as one might think. Do you want an audience with the president today? How many levels would you have to go through to “maybe” get to see him for just a moment of the day? The King of Glory is always available with just the simple approach of a humble, heartfelt prayer of yearning. (Romans 8:24-27)

Having established the ease AND personal aspect of communication with our King, the interaction gets sweeter still. The Psalmist here implores visitation from the King. This visitation is more than just a whispering in each others’ ear through prayer and interaction. This visitation has an end result in mind. Of all the people that visit with the president this day or a king of another land, how many just want to talk with him, and how many want an end product from their meeting? Most probably want the latter. Our visitation from God does have an end product in view, but we should desire both aspects of the visitation. Whenever we went to a family reunion, my natural father always wanted to see the people he had not seen in a while, but he also hoped for some strengthening of family bonds that needed building up.

As our wayward and weary steps of life sometimes shake the fortitude of our minds, we need renewal of things that are truly important. Therefore, we need the visitation of God to strengthen our family bonds. Not that we are in any danger of falling out of the family, but we need to see and be reminded once again of the love of this family, the exalted nature of this family, and the wonderful end of this family. The Psalmist declares the salvation in “seeing the good thy chosen,” “rejoice in the gladness of thy nation,” and “glory with thine inheritance.”

Far more than receiving tens of millions of dollars, may we implore visitation from God to once again delight in the glorious sight of the “end product” of the family of God. What is our good as His chosen people? Where is our inheritance? Our inheritance is in heaven waiting and prepared in all things for the elect family of God. (I Peter 1:4) The gladness in the nation comes when we see the end in sight – through the mind’s eye of faith – and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:2)

So our visitation from God desires the end result of a renewed and aligned sight of our inheritance and the beauty of God’s work. But, our visitation also desires that close kinship of interaction that sadly is lacking more and more in today’s world. Moving into the preparation of visiting with our King, what are the particulars about this? Have you ever been in someone’s house and seen the prominent displays on the walls and otherwise? Did you think that these things meant the most to them? For years, my grandmother had in her house a prominent picture of President Ronald Reagan that contained his signatory and personal note from him. She was quite proud to know him and be on a somewhat “familiar” level with him. That picture was displayed where all could see upon entering her home.

Should the president have ever visited her, he would have immediately seen her affection for him. When we prepare for visitation from on high, our house (this tabernacle of clay), needs to be prepared in such a way that He is the most prominent in it. Peter declares that we should sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. (I Peter 3:15) This means that our heart should have Him exalted above all else, and when He visits, the first thing He sees is Himself! To exalt Him above all things, our minds and hearts need to be cleared from bitterness, evil speaking and thoughts, and such things from which we should turn away. By so doing, the image of His Dear Son will appear more vividly as He comes and comforts us during our pilgrimage here.

Finally, unlike the improbable percentage of ever being visited by a natural dignitary, the visitation from God can be enjoyed daily and consistently. The enjoyment of the rich scene of God’s salvation and our ultimate eternal paradise can be looked forward to daily and enriched by God as our souls yearn for that time. Unlike the fake dignitaries of e-mail that assault the inbox daily with “too good to be true” stories, our hearts should be ready to dine with the King about things that are way too good for this world to contain but are most definitely true. The many infallible proofs that we have of these things is that His visitation is corroborated in His word, and the precepts and laws written in our heart verify that both the written word and this impression from on High are all verily true and amen. May our days be enriched by His visitation so that we look forward more to the endless day of eternity with Him and live more closely and unified with Him here.

In Hope,

Bro Philip