Glorify and Enjoy
Scripture Reading — Psalm 34:1-10
Glorify the Lord with me … Taste and see that the Lord is good …
Psalm 34:3,8
A dear saint was looking forward to her 100th birthday. Deafness made it challenging to communicate, but her radiant smile invited my best efforts. She reported, “Pastor, I can’t hear, but I can read and I can eat.” When I suggested that Psalm 34 might be one of her favorites, she broke into a wide smile and quoted, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
Glorifying our Creator is a great privilege that God has given us. But doesn’t that keep him at arm’s length? God is high and lifted up! We, the creatures of his hands, are far different from the almighty, all-knowing God. Even so, we long to be in relationship with him.
The psalmist refuses to think that God’s glory puts him at an unapproachable distance. He speaks at the same time of both glorifying and enjoying God. Enjoying God speaks of closeness and intimacy. We are invited to glorify the Lord and yet also to taste his goodness.
So we live in a holy tension with God. Never so distant as to avoid intimacy, never so close as to lose our sense of awe, we both glorify and enjoy our God— because God himself comes to be present with us.
A historic catechism of the church tells us that the very purpose of our lives is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Standing in awe of the God who loves us only increases our enjoyment of his goodness to us.
Father, you are indeed high and lifted up, your glory fills the place of your dwelling. Thank you for becoming so real and close to us that we can enjoy you. In Jesus, Amen.
About the author — Harvey Brink
Rev. Harvey Brink has retired from active ministry in the Christian Reformed Church, having served congregations in Michigan, California, Iowa, New Jersey, Illinois, and
Washington. He and his wife Maxine live near their children and grandchildren in western Washington.
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