Taste and see that the Lord is good- psalms 34

Recently, I went to summer camp with my high school youth group. It was my last summer camp ever...

With this reality came a lot of bittersweet feelings. I love my church community fiercely and recognize how special it is to be a part of a welcoming+inclusive community. But, I won't be with them in the same way anymore. Though going to college is exciting, it's hard to say, "goodbye for now" to people you love so deeply. However, my week at camp was a sweet ending to this season.

Going into the camp week, I was expectant of how the Lord would show himself to me. He always does when I come with open hands.

I had asked some friends what they were hoping to get out of this week and in that, I was asked the same question. In the past, church camps have been a time when the Lord would heal a hurting part of me or replace a lie I was believing about Him or myself in a radical way. So, naturally, I was expecting something of that nature. What I found to be true instead, was that the week was marked by deep gratitude.

Gratitude for the people around me.

Gratitude for the story God has written for me thus far.

Gratitude for His goodness and faithfulness to draw me to Him over the years.

Gratitude for the hardships I've faced- they've equipped me to encourage others of the truth that it won't last forever.

Gratitude that I can sing "christ is my Firm Foundation" and really believe it

The verse in Psalms 34 was continually on my mind in worship. It says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (verse 8). In this Psalm, David is reflecting on God recusing him from captivity by the Philistines. Verse 8 is David calling other believers to engage in God's goodness and experience it on their own. He knows that the Lord is near+available to the righteous. David had tasted and seen the goodness of God for himself and in his call to action, I sense the same excitement in him that the Samaritan woman at the well felt as she ran back to town to tell everyone she had met the Messiah and been set free (John 4). I sense the same excitement that the disciples must've felt when they were called by the Messiah and something in their souls knew that Jesus was the one their hearts had been aching for. I sense the same excitement that baby John the Baptist felt inside his mother's womb as Mary walked into his mother's home with the Son of God in her womb- he leaped in her womb (Luke 1:41).

This excitement is the only appropriate response to tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. It is what I experienced at camp. I had a chance to look back at where I was freshman year- mad at God and doubting that I could trust Him to be good- to where He's brought me now. These past four years were hard- even gut-wrenchingly lonely at times- but, I'm thankful for the experiences because God used them to woo my heart back to His. I experienced the truth that even if the worst possible scenario happens, He is still good. I know and believe this with every fiber of my being now. That is only true because He was merciful and kind enough to pursue me and teach me how to place my feet on the Rock, which is Him. All I had were open hands and a heart that knew I couldn't find healing and hope on my own.

If He did it for me, He can and wants to do it for you too. You are His beloved. You always will be. His desire for each of His beloved is for them to taste and see that He is good.

At camp, I heard so many stories of underclassmen who are in the thick of it right now. I was once there too. My heart breaks for them, but hopelessness doesn't reach me because I know who our God is. I got the opportunity to encourage some of them to take heart, to not give up on God because He wasn't giving up on them.

I will encourage you with the same thing if you're in a hard place or are questioning God's goodness.

If you're not, rejoice in His goodness. Rejoice in the reality that you can taste and see that the Lord is good, all because Jesus came, died, and made a way for us to be with Him again.

love, Sami Skipworth