BLACKBERRIES

Blackberries ripen, full and sweet,

to make for me an August treat.

Their goodness calls me, “Come and dine!”,

so up I climb to make them mine.

Safe underneath the ash and beech,

the berries grow within my reach.

I pluck them quickly for my pail

and eat my fill along the trail.

Blackberries splendid, good and free,

are like the graces given me.

God’s fruit is for the picking ones,

and with it, love and mercy comes.

O taste and see that the LORD is good:

blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Psalm 34:8

BLACKBERRIES

Behind our house and up through the woods on a trail, there is a field owned by our neighbor. Well, it was a field. Shrubs and saplings have grown, turning the once open field into the beginnings of a wooded area. With our neighbor’s permission and long pants, it can be therapeutic to take an August evening and pick blackberries. Frozen away until a cold winter evening, they will make nice additions to an oven-baked cobbler. 

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Can we trust God?

Can we trust His words in the Bible?

Can we know He is a Rewarder to those who trust Him?

I sought the LORD, and he heard me,

and delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:4

David, the psalmist who wrote Psalm 34, knew that those who seek God will have a better result in finding Him. 

Seek and find. 

Taste and see. 

Ask and receive. 

Pray and be heard.

The psalm begins with praising the LORD continually. Praying praise focuses our attention on God who can deliver us from our problems as He has done for people in the past. Our Creator wishes for us to draw near to Him with our joys and concerns. Many people have as recorded in the Bible. It's true for us today.

They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

Psalm 34:5-7

With eyes on the LORD, troubles can disappear. How do we not know that an angel stands nearby? How do we not know that deliverance might be around the corner? Who wouldn’t want to taste, see, receive and know? We are His creation, made in His image with eyes, ears, nose and taste buds. He wants us to experience His presence in our lives.

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

Psalm 34:10

David must have known about lions when he tended his father’s sheep. We can seek God in prayer, like David did, with that growing list of hardships and disturbances including this coronavirus. We can rely on God’s attentive ear to hear things we choose not to be complacent about. And then, we must trust God’s timing.

What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?  Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. 

The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

Psalm 34: 12-16    (and 1 Peter 3: 10-12) 

You don’t want to be the one the LORD will cut off! Ask God where the good road is and then walk in it. Pick the good practice and stick to it. Pick the best blackberry and then drop it in your container! Jesus said to follow Him. If we’re used to going our own way, it might be tough to follow. Thankfully, our Savior is patient with us. Every morning is another opportunity to live the victorious life. 

The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;

and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 

Many are the afflictions of the righteous:

but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

Psalm 34:18-19

The local drug store has bandaids for scratches from berry briars. But there isn’t anything there for a broken heart. God heals the broken-hearted and saves the one with a contrite spirit. Even with all the thickets we have to sometimes walk through, God is there to pull us out of them. God is the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Let’s live for the reward He gives!

Psalm 34 ends with a promise:

The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants:

and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

Psalm 34:22

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

James 1:2-3

Yes! Yes to all three. We can trust God, His Words and know He is the Rewarder! 

Taste and see. God’s fruit is for the picking ones. And there is a warm-baked heavenly cobbler ready to be enjoyed from the gathering of patience.