Taste and See that the Lord Is Good
By T. E. Bowen
“The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love Him: but all the wicked will He destroy.” Ps. 145: 17-20. HIS is a precious portion of Scripture. God works. He actually does great things; yet all His ways are righteous, all His works holy. Whether or not we understand this, depends upon whether or not our hearts are right in His sight. Whether we are righteous or wicked, changes not the fact that God is righteous and holy in all His ways and works. The next sentence holds out to every man, every child of His, great or small, rich or poor, high or low, the opportunity to prove the Lord to his own satisfaction. The promise is made that His presence shall be made known, made manifest, to “all them that8call upon Him,” provided they call upon Him in truth. But this proviso means much. Let not that one who, in the innermost temple of the soul, knows that he is trampling upon some revealed truth, suppose that God is bound by this promise to come nigh unto him. Christ reads every motive of the heart. No one can deceive Him. Has the Spirit of truth convicted you of some duty? Has some unpopular truth been brought home to your heart as being the truth of God’s Word somewhere in your experience? Have you stifled that voice that urged you to obey the Word of God, pointing some duty, as baptism, keeping the Sabbath of the Bible,—the seventh day,—or some other unfulfilled duty? Until these things are adjusted with your God, He must wait until you yield to His requirements. He can come to such a one as a reprover only. God can not lie. He deals faithfully with every soul. He can not come nigh to such a soul with His blessing as He otherwise would be glad to do. But to those who do yield, the promise comes a little nearer. God says to such, whose hearts are perfect toward Him, to walk in all His commandments, that “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry, and will save them.” This can be counted upon as literal. God will actually do this. In a thousand ways the promise may take new shape and form; but just as truly as God lives, and is a God of truth, just so truly will He hear the varied cries of those who actually call upon Him in truth. He will save them. He will deliver them now from the awful crushing fear and anxiety that are forced down upon the child of God by the enemy; He will save them in the hour of special danger; He will answer their cry in sickness, restoring to health when this can glorify His name; He will come near with answers of peace in times of affliction and sorrow; He will save in the hour of death, writing the name of His dying saint in the Lamb’s Book of Life as a candidate for the first resurrection; all this and “much more” will He do for you when the heart is perfect in doing His will. All this comes to “all them that love Him.” But one more stroke of the divine pen shatters the hopes of the wicked; for the sentence is, “All the wicked will He destroy.” It is the same God of love and righteousness and holiness that destroys the sinner, who delivers the righteous,—those who fear and love Him. Have not all had the same opportunity? Has not God proved Himself willing to save every one who should call upon Him in truth? How possibly can He be at fault, when all were invited, all were sought after, to all was given opportunity to accept of some ray of truth, that, if followed, would have led to Christ Jesus the Lord? God is not so unrighteous as to save unto eternal life that individual who in his heart has despised God’s Word, His law, and His righteousness. He could not maintain His holiness and do that. But He does for him all that a loving and just God can, by bringing his life of sin, after just punishment, to an everlasting end. Reader, why not give to God your heart now, fully, freely, making no reserve, proving Him to your own satisfaction that He is all that He has promised,—a God of love, of truth, of holiness, One “able to save”? You will experience this mighty power sooner or later, either in the power to save from sin, or to destroy the sin with the sinner. See Luke 12:4, 5. Why wait for the latter, and be lost, eternally lost, when you might experience His power of redeeming love now during the day of salvation, and enjoy eternal life with all His saints throughout all eternity in His kingdom?