Thur Devotional

Daily Devotional 

from Dr. James Merritt:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8

Have you heard the phrase, “The proof is in the pudding?” The origin of that saying dates back to the early 1600s. Originally the phrase was, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” which means, you have to taste the pudding to know if it’s good or not. Over the years the phrase was shortened, but the meaning is still the same.


I’d like to think this phrase originated much earlier. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good…” The psalmist means we should, “make trial of it by our own experience.” That is, when we experience a relationship with God directly and personally, we will know how good He really is. Those who love Him and are surrendered to Him can experience His kindness, grace, mercy, benevolence, and providence—every divinely good and true aspect of God.

During the Easter season, when Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, it’s natural to ask, “Can I really have a relationship with this Person, this God?” And more so, “What will this mean for my life? Will it make any difference? Will I live differently, feel differently?” To that we have to say, the proof is in the pudding! Or to echo Scripture, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” A relationship with Jesus cannot be defined, described or measured from the outside. When we surrender our lives to Christ, we will experience the goodness of God in our lives, and embrace a real and lasting hope for eternity.

The resurrection is a true and fantastic story. God became a man, lived a perfect life, and died a horrible death as punishment for sin. Not His sin, but our sin. But by rising from the dead, He not only paid the penalty for our sin, but He also paved a path for us to eternal life. By giving our lives over to Jesus, confessing our sins to Him and committing to live for Him, we become a part of this amazing story. We become living proof today of what Jesus accomplished going down on a cross and coming up from a grave, 2,000 years ago.

Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to not only die to pay the penalty for my sins, but to rise from the dead so that I, too, could experience eternal life. May my life as a Christ follower be living proof of the Jesus Who lives inside me, through my actions and my words. Open up opportunities during the Easter season for me to share my faith with those around me. Let me challenge the skeptics and the unbelievers who question trusting in Jesus, to taste and see that the Lord is good. Amen.