Experiencing the Goodness of God | Carlos Velez | Calvary Church

So, if you have a Bible, you can turn to

Psalm 34. We're going to read the whole

Psalm right now. Okay, you ready? Here

we go.

Psalm 34

of David when he pretended to be insane

before Aimilec who drove him away and he

left.

I will extol the Lord at all times. His

praise will always be on my lips.

I will glory in the Lord. Let the

afflicted hear and rejoice.

Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt

his name together. I sought the Lord and

he answered me. He delivered me from all

my fears. Those who look to him are

radiant. Their faces are never covered

with shame.

This poor man called and the Lord heard

him. He saved him out of all his

troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps

around those who fear him, and he

delivers them.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the one who takes refuge in

him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people,

for those who fear him lack nothing. The

lions may grow weak and hungry, but

those who seek the Lord lack no good

thing. Come, my children, listen to me.

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Whoever of you loves life and desires to

see many good days, keep your tongue

from evil and your lips from telling

lies. Turn from evil and do good. Seek

peace and pursue it. The eyes of the

Lord are on the righteous and his ears

are attentive to their cry. But the face

of the Lord is against those who do evil

to blot out their name from the earth.

The righteous cry out and the Lord hears

them. He delivers them from all their

troubles. The Lord is close to the

brokenhearted and save those who are

crushed in spirit. The righteous person

may have many troubles, but the Lord

delivers him from them all. He protects

all his bones. Not one of them will be

broken. Evil will slay the wicked. The

foes of the righteous will be condemned.

The Lord will rescue his servants. No

one who takes refuge in him will be

condemned.

So, this is a really interesting psalm.

It's one of 14 psalms

that begins with a heading connecting it

to a specific moment in history. And so

here's what's happening.

David wrote this psalm.

Now, David wrote this psalm before he

became king of Israel. There's already a

king in Israel at this time. His name is

Saul. And Saul is trying to kill David.

And so David is on the run. He's running

away from Saul. He's afraid uh that his

life is in danger. He's going and he

ends up he ends up in the place where

Goliath, who is a giant who David

killed, is from. So he goes in there and

the people start to talk about him.

They're like, "Wait a second. I know who

this guy is. Isn't this the guy who's

killed so many?" They start saying all

these different things about David. And

David begins to get nervous. So you know

what David does? He's in front of the

leaders. is from the king Akish

and he starts to act crazy.

He starts to like scratch on the walls.

He starts to drool a little bit and

allow spit to get into his beard and he

just starts to act like he's insane. And

so they're like, "Okay, okay, okay. This

guy's clearly lost it. He's not a

threat. Let's just get rid of him." Like

go get out of here. Get out of here and

clean your beard while you're at it.

And so he leaves

and in that moment

fueled by this experience

David writes a song.

A song is born. He writes a psalm. He

writes a psalm that we just read.

And the reason that's important is

because of this.

Psalm 34

is not written from a place where

everything has worked out.

David is still in the middle of

uncertainty. He's still in the middle of

a tough situation.

And what does he say in the middle of

that tough situation? He says, "God is

good.

God is good."

You know, most of us find it easier to

praise God when things are going well.

Most of us find it easy to praise God

when circumstances are going our way.

when prayers are answered the way that

we want them.

But what happens when life is painful?

What what happens when life doesn't make

sense?

Psalm 34 forces us to ask, will we

respond to God based on what he does for

us

or based on who he is?

even when things seem to be bad.

You see, the big idea for today is what

we deeply long for can only be found in

Jesus. The big idea for this psalm is

what we deeply long for can only be

found in in Jesus. Now, in the this

summer, we're going to be looking at

Psalms, and we ask you to read along.

Maybe even just read a psalm a day. Now,

here's the thing with Psalms, okay?

Psalms are kind of like munchkins from

Dunkin Donuts, right?

Hold up. Actually, I think I was a

little bit incorrect

because we all know yum yum is better

than Dunkin Donuts, right? Right. Yes.

That's probably the only thing you're

going to say amen to the entire sermon.

Psalms are like the yumsters from Yum

Yum Donuts, right?

A lot of them are small. A lot of them

are short and you just can kind of eat

eat them really quick and enjoy them

really fast. And that's fun. That's

enjoyable.

But what we want you to do with the

Psalms this summer is this. Instead of

looking at the Psalms like Yumsters from

Yum Yums, we want you to look at them

like a rich chocolate torch. Like a rich

chocolate tor. You got to eat that torch

slowly.

You got to savor it. You got to taste

it. That's what we want you to do with

the Psalms. And so we gave out this

bookmark. And so as you go through the

psalm, we want you to actually ask the

questions on the back of this. What is

God trying to tell you as you read the

psalm? How is it pointing to Jesus? So

we want you to savor that. And so we're

going to do that with Psalm 34. And so

here's what we're going to do with Psalm

34. We're going to look at how this

psalm flows. And we're going to look at

receive, remember, respond, rest, and

then receive again. Receive, remember,

respond, rest, and receive. If you're

working with the sermon handout, I just

gave you all the answers. You can fill

them out and then just leave.

All right, here's what we're going to

do. Let's look at the first thing. Psalm

344 calls us to receive the invitation

to praise God. Receive the invitation to

praise God. All right, we're going to go

through this psalm again slowly,

savoring it.

Psalm 34:es 1, I will extol the Lord at

all times. His praise will always be on

my lips. I will glory in the Lord. Let

the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify

the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name

together.

It says, I will exalt is another way is

I will bless the Lord at all times. What

David does is he begins this psalm with

a decision. He begins this psalm with a

statement.

I will bless the Lord at all times. Not

sometimes.

Not when life is easy, but at all times.

All times.

Praise begins before David's

circumstances change. You see that for

David, praise begins before

circumstances change. Why? Because God

has not changed.

God has not changed.

And and notice what happens with David.

He moves from personal worship, this

commitment that he will bless the Lord

at all times. And what does he do? He

invites others into this.

He invites others into a communal

worship.

He just says, "Come, come and do this

with me."

David invites others to magnify the Lord

with him. And it is why we gather

together Sunday after Sunday together as

a group.

Worship is not simply our response to

life. Worship actually shapes how we see

life. And when we gather together,

we don't gather together because

everything is fixed in our life.

We gather together because God is

worthy.

That's the whole reason we gather

together because God is worthy of our

praise. He's worthy of our worship. And

when we praise together, when we worship

together, God reshapes our hearts.

He reshapes our hearts. And so Psalm 34

begins with inviting us to receive this

invitation to praise God.

And when we do that and we gather

together to do that, what we do is we

begin by remembering.

We remember. We remember the testimony

of God's deliverance. As we look at the

psalm, David moves from this invitation

to a testimony. What does he do? He

says, I verse four, I sought the Lord

and he answered me. He delivered me from

all my fears. Those who look to him are

radiant. Their faces are never covered

with shame. This poor man called and the

Lord heard him. He saved him out of all

of his troubles. The angel of the Lord

encamps around those who fear him and

deliver him.

Delivers them.

You notice what David didn't say?

David did not say, "I fixed my

situation."

He didn't say, "Things were going poorly

and I worked really hard and things are

good now."

Now, he's still going through a

difficult situation. What does David

say?

David says, "I sought the Lord.

I sought the Lord and he answered me."

He answered me. As we look at those

verses, God does a few things. God

answers. God delivers. God surrounds.

He is present. And what we need to

understand is what David is doing in

this moment is not just giving a theory.

He's not just expanding an idea.

What David is doing is he's sharing out

his lived experience. He's sharing his

personal testimony, his lived

experience.

But but remember remember

God's deliverance did not mean that

David's struggles instantly disappeared.

Remember the context of the psalm.

He's still not home. He's still not what

we would consider safe. He's still on

the run. He's still in danger.

He's running and he's vulnerable.

But what he says is God is faithful in

the middle of all of this. God is

faithful and God is present in the

middle of all of this.

And that is what remembering does

when we remember. A lot of times we'll

have communion and what that was done

when we drink the cup and we eat the

bread. It's a time where Jesus tells us

to remember. To remember to remember.

Remembering doesn't erase the struggle.

It anchors us in the middle of the

struggle. We remember what God has done.

And as we remember what God has done, it

reminds us of who he is.

And as we remember who he is, he is our

anchor.

And so in Psalm 34, we're called

to receive an invitation to praise. And

as we do that, we are called to remember

what God has done and who he is. And

then we're called to respond.

Respond with trust and fear of the Lord.

David gives one of the greatest

invitations in scripture in these next

verses. Verse eight,

taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the one who takes refuge in

him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people,

for those who fear him lack nothing. The

lions may grow weak and hungry, but

those who seek the Lord lack no good

thing.

Come, my children, listen to me. I will

teach you the fear of the Lord. Whoever

of you loves life and desires to see

many good days. Keep your tongue from

evil and your lips from telling lies.

Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace

and pursue it.

What does David say? Taste and see that

the Lord is good.

My wife and I uh probably about 15 years

ago.

Yeah. About 15 years ago for our

anniversary, we went to Arizona.

Uh we went to uh Scottsdale, Arizona and

Phoenix, Arizona.

And in Phoenix, Arizona,

they have what's called a fried bread

taco.

No, no, no, no. You don't understand.

I had never had this before. I did not

know this existed. A fried bread taco is

made with fried bread like the Navajo

Nation made. And and they make this

fried bread and then they put the meat

on it with all the spices and the

seasoning.

Oh, and then and then after that the

beans go on that.

And then some vegetables go on that. It

was good. It was still good. Vegetables

go on it.

And then you fold that fried bread taco

and you take a bite out of it. It's

crunchy on the outside but soft on the

inside. It's the most amazing food

experience you'll ever experience.

Fried bread taco.

Now, all of you know what a fried bread

taco tastes like, right?

No,

you don't know what it tastes like.

I simply gave you information.

I gave you information. Until you pick

up the fried bread taco and you bite

into it and you experience the bliss of

the fried bread taco and you taste it,

you cannot know what it tastes like.

You might have knowledge,

but you don't know.

It's the same with God. You can know a

lot about God, but you know God.

To taste is to experience.

It's not information from a distance. It

is participation.

And and here's the beauty of that. God

invites us to taste and see that he is

good. And but the thing is that often

times we we want information first. We

want proof. We need proof first. God

proof before we can trust you.

But God invites us to trust him.

And as we trust him, we experience him.

As we God invites us into this place of

trust. It is a place where we get to

experience him. What does it say?

Blessed is the one who takes refuge in

him.

This this is not a temporary feeling. It

it is a rooted life. A rooted life in

understanding and experiencing the

presence of God. A rooted life in living

life with him.

A and there's there's things that become

evidence of that rooted life. David says

to guard your speech, turn from evil,

seek peace, and pursue it. This is this

is the result

of living a life that when you actually

taste the goodness of God, this is the

result of your life. This is the fruit

of it.

He's inviting us to experience God

through trust and obedience.

This concept again of trust and obey.

Trust and obey. Trust and obey is this

very fuel of experiencing God. the very

fuel of tasting and seeing that God is

good.

And as we do that, as we receive the

invitation to praise God, as we remember

what God has done and who he is, and as

we respond with trust and fear of the

Lord, what results is that we get to

rest in the promise of God's redemption.

We rest in the promise of God's

redemption. You see, David knows

something. Here's what David knows.

Trusting God does not mean that we avoid

suffering.

Trusting God does not mean that

everything good happens to us and

nothing bad happens to us.

Verse 15, the eyes of the Lord are on

the righteous and his ears are attentive

to their cry. But the face of the Lord

is against those who do evil to blot out

their name from the earth.

The righteous cry out and the Lord hears

them. He delivers them from all their

troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in

spirit.

The righteous person may have many

troubles.

You get that?

The righteous person may have many

troubles, but the Lord delivers him from

them all. He protects all his bones. Not

one of them will be broken. Evil will

slay the wicked. The foes of the

righteous will be condemned. The Lord

will rescue his servants. No one who

takes refuge in him will be condemned.

This is one of the most important truths

of this psalm.

God's goodness is not defined by the

absence of suffering.

God's goodness is not defined by the

absence of suffering.

It is defined by his presence in the

midst of our suffering.

It's defined by the presence in the

midst of our suffering and his

redemption through it.

His redemption through it. What does it

say? The Lord is close to the

brokenhearted. He saved those who are

crushed in spirit. God does not only

meet us after the storm. He is present

with us in the storm.

And that's where Psalm 34 points us to

Jesus.

You see, there's an interesting verse in

Psalm 34 that has a ton of power in it.

Let me read it to you. Psalm 34:20.

Psalms 34:20

He protects all his bones. Not one of

them will be broken.

On its own,

you might be like, I'm not sure where

he's going with this. On its own, that

might not be impressive,

but these words are spoken again in the

Bible.

These words are spoken in the New

Testament. They're found in the book of

John.

They're found

during the account of Jesus's death when

Jesus is on the cross.

John 19:31, it says this, "Now is the

John 19:31

day of preparation and the next day was

to be a special Sabbath. Because the

Jewish leaders did not want the bodies

left on the crosses during the Sabbath,

they asked Pilate to have the legs

broken and the bodies taken down." Okay,

here's why they asked for the legs to be

broken.

Crucifixion was a very very horrific

death.

But basically the way you died in

crucifi when you were crucified was you

would suffocate

because as you hung on the cross your

body would begin to let to like just

bend and collapse and your lungs would

start to collapse and eventually you

would not be able to breathe. And so

what would happen is is that oftent

times the person on the cross would push

their legs up just to catch a little bit

of a breath

and then they would have to sag down.

So the reason that they wanted to break

the legs was so that they would die

quicker.

Verse 32, the soldiers therefore came

and broke the legs of the first man who

had been crucified

and then those of the other.

But when they came to Jesus and found

that he was already dead, they did not

break his legs. Instead, one of the

soldiers pierced Jesus's side with a

spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood

and water. The man who saw it was given

testimony. His testimony is true. He

knows that he tells the truth and he

testifies so that you also may believe.

These things happen so that the

scripture would be fulfilled.

Not one of his bones will be broken.

Psalm 34.

And as another scripture says, they will

look on the one they have pierced.

Psalm 34 is not just a song. Psalm 34 is

not just poetry. It's a promise.

It's a promise that was fulfilled in

Jesus. Jesus is the true righteous

sufferer. Jesus is the one who trusted

the father perfectly. He suffered

without sin and he was vindicated

through his resurrection.

And the question of suffering is not

answered by explanation. The question of

suffering is not answered

by more intelligence. The question of

suffering is answered by Jesus.

It's answered by Jesus.

And because of that, because of that,

Psalm 34 points us to receive the true

invitation.

To receive the true invitation. You see,

Jesus is the one who fully lives out

Psalm 34. He trusts the father

completely. He praises in obedience. He

suffers without sin.

And yet

he is also the one who was forsaken in

our place.

And this is where everything comes

together.

We do not taste and see to earn God's

love or to earn God's goodness. We taste

and see because Jesus has already

secured it.

Our experience of God is not generic

spirituality. It is union with Christ

and what we deeply long for peace,

refuge, goodness, belonging is only

found in Jesus.

So the question remains, will we respond

to God conditionally based on

circumstances or will we respond to him

as he is revealed in Jesus even when

circumstances are unresolved?

The cross tells us what looked like

defeat was actually redemption.

What looked like absence was actually

love at work. What looked like silence

was God's salvation unfolding so we can

come to Jesus. We can trust Jesus and we

can rest in Jesus. Not simply when life

finally makes sense. But even when it

doesn't,

we are called to receive the true

invitation.

Last week, I actually did three

weddings.

And here's the thing that I said to one

of the brides.

I said, "We're here

because you were asked a question."

And you said yes.

because we wouldn't have had a wedding

if the question was asked to her and she

would have said, "Nah, no thanks."

Or if

the groom goes and offers her the ring

and says, "Will you marry me?" And she

says, "I'll

think about that. Let me get back to

you." We wouldn't have had a wedding.

She had to have said yes.

When it comes to the true invitation of

Jesus,

you have to say yes.

There is no other answer. It's either

you say yes or you've said no.

If you'd like to talk more about that

after the service, we'd love to talk to

you about that.

Don't leave today if God's tugging at

your heart. We'd love to talk to you

after the service.

And you see, if you've said yes to

Jesus, then you're invited to live out

this psalm. You're invited to live out

the beauty of Psalm 34. To live out the

beauty of a life that tastes and sees

that the Lord is good.

Here are some things that we'd like you

to do to kind of help with living that

life of tasting and seeing that the Lord

is good.

For this summer, read a psalm a day.

Read one psalm a day. Take the bookmark,

answer the questions on the back. Really

take time to just savor it, to really

just appreciate it, to spend time in one

psalm a day.

Next thing we say, prioritize corporate

worship. Prioritize this time that we're

actually together, especially when

circumstances make it easy to retreat.

Prioritize this time together. It's

during this time together that God works

in our hearts corporately and begins to

mold them.

And then the last thing we encourage you

to do,

just confess to God any misplaced

desires.

You know, sometimes we like to taste

other things and find goodness in those

things. It's really like eating junk

food. Becomes a substitute to God. I

don't know if it's success. I don't know

if it's control. Whatever it is, just

recognize that. Come to God and confess

that to him and give those things to

him.

You see, the big idea for today is what

we deeply long for can only be found in

Jesus. What we deeply, deeply long for

can only be found in Jesus.

It can be found in Jesus on the days

when everything is going right.

the beautiful positive days.

And it can be found in Jesus in the days

when things are going negative, the dark

and difficult days.

And it can be found in Jesus in all the

days in between.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Respond to the true invitation of Jesus.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for who you are.

We thank you that we are allowed to

experience your goodness

as we are allowed to live a life with

you. That you invite us to live this

life with you.

That we don't just get to know about

you, but we get to know you.

But help us be aware of your presence.

Fill us with your joy and your peace and

your goodness

and let it overflow to everyone around

us.

We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.