Thank you, brother. Appreciate it. Amen. I'm having a great camp. Thank you for allowing me to be here with you. Let's go to the book of Psalms, Psalm 34 this morning. There's a phrase in Psalm 34 that I want to draw your attention to. I think it'll be a good phrase to think about as we are at camp and as we go home. And it even aligns with candy bars. And that's the verse here in Psalm 34 where David writes in verse number eight, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. You've heard, we've heard a lot of preaching, a lot of the context of our morning God night time and our team devotion time is around the theme of God's will. And God's will is a good will, which goes back to the fact that God is good. And I know that many of you understand that intellectually. I don't think there's anybody in the room that doesn't understand intellectually that God is good. But there's a level of understanding that, that the psalmist is calling us to desire, to want, to have, not just in our minds, but even more importantly in our hearts, where we know that God is good. You know what I'm saying? It's easy to know something in your mind, but to actually have that truth and that reality lodged in your heart oftentimes requires an experience. It requires an event. It requires some kind of a trial, maybe a test, maybe a circumstance that causes us to have to understand this. Because I love how the psalm begins in verse one. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Now, growing up and even into adulthood, even to this day, I always admire people who are 100% committed to something. And you know what people are committed to because it's what they talk about, it's how they dress, it's how they conduct themselves. I mean, if someone's passionate about something, you know it about them. You don't even have to ask it. It's just a part of who they are. You know, if someone loves football, a certain football team, you know it. You know your camp director loves the Philadelphia Eagles, right? You know that about him because he's committed to his team. And yet I know him well enough to know that that's not the most important thing in his life. There are things much more important, and I appreciate that about him. But you know, you know when you're passionate about something. You know when you're committed. And I just love, and you know, I've looked at people through the years, committed to this and committed to that, and I appreciate it. But when I got saved, I'll tell you what was amazing to me. that there were men who were committed to God, who loved God with all of their heart, soul, and mind, and they were men. And I was like, wow. I want what they have. I want to be a man. who has tasted and seen that God is good. And that's why the psalmist begins with worshiping God. You know, worshiping God isn't something that we should have to muster up, something that we have to put on. You know, we spent five years in Eswatini, Africa, where it's cultural to worship God and praise God. It's just part of the culture, but it doesn't mean it's true. It's just a cultural thing. In our nation long before you were born, people were much more spiritually inclined and maybe praising God was more of the culture. But even when I was a kid, we had already been losing that in our nation. But what I hear from the generations before me, even some of that was true in America. But to think that today there are people who love God, where the worshiping of God and the praise of God is not fabricated, but is just the outflowing of what's truly within because of the love and the commitment, I admire people like that. And I say, I want that. I don't wanna be fake. Who likes being fake? I don't want to be fake. I don't want to be a phony. I don't want to just go along with something and just do something because it's what I'm supposed to do. And maybe it's even positive peer pressure to be a certain way, but I want it to be real. I want you to be real. I want you to really love God. I want to really love God. I really want to worship. I want you to really worship God. I want it to be genuine and from the heart and not something that you just think you're supposed to do. How about this? We're going to take a journey to the book of Genesis in just a moment, and read about a man by the name of Jacob. Maybe you've heard of him. And Jacob, being the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac, even though he had this goodly heritage whereby he had the example of his dad and his granddad as men who loved God, men who lived by faith, men who were obedient and truly worshiped God, Jacob himself had to come to the place where he too would love that God of his grandfather and of his father and truly worship that God even when he is all alone. Let's go there. Go to Genesis with me. We want to find and have in our hearts people who have tasted and seen that God is good. And Jacob himself, even though his dad and his granddad, and I can imagine some of you in this room, you know, most likely, maybe not all of you, but a good portion of you have grown up in a home where your parents loved God. And I understand that your parents aren't perfect. I'm a dad, I'm not perfect. I have my character flaws, I have my weaknesses, and if anyone knows it, it's my own children. But I hope they also know that though I am human and have my flaws, I love God, and I wanna worship God, and I really want to be committed to God above everything else that this world has to offer me. And I hope they see that, and I want them to see that, But I can't fake it. It's got to be who I am. And if you've grown up in an environment where you have parents or maybe grandparents or both. Imagine having both parents and grandparents that love and worship God. You don't know how blessed you are. David said in one of the Psalms, I think it was Psalm 16, he says, I have a goodly heritage. David, the son of Jesse, he had a good heritage of people who loved God before him. But even David had to make that decision. Even David had to give his heart to God. And so do you. I'm so glad that living for God is not just following rules and having a certain set of standards and doing this and doing that. While those things have their place, there's still a main event that I want you to have, and that is for you to taste and see that God is good. Oh, to get a hold of who God is. Sometimes we're so focused on what God can do for me, but that's trivial compared to who God is. And if you can taste and see of who God is, He is a good God, you're gonna see everything turn around. Because it's not just about what God can do for me. And so many people have that mentality. They just want God to do something for them. And while it's fine and it's right for us to want and have our petitions and requests, may we have a greater drive, may we have a greater purpose of seeking who God is. Oh, and while we're at it, God, because of who you are, there's this situation. Can you please attend to it? Because I can't. And so here in Genesis, Jacob, Jacob had to come to that place. We say now the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's what we say now, but it had to become that. Initially, the God of Abraham, and you can see, we won't take the time, but if you read in Isaac's life, it talks about the God of his father, Abraham. And then in Jacob's generation, it's the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. And then after Jacob, it's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as we know him today. But Jacob himself had to get to that place in his heart where he too was saved, just as we need to be saved today. He too loved God and chose to love God and to put God first. Here in Genesis 25, let's jump over there. Genesis 25, we need to taste and see. Jacob needed to taste and see that God is good. Look down to verse number 24. We'll kind of give a brief history here to get you up to speed in case you don't know much about the life of Jacob. His father, Isaac, and his mother, Rebekah, conceived, and there were twins born. Jacob had a twin brother, and so here we find in verse number 24, days to be delivered were fulfilled. Behold, there were twins in her womb, and the first came out red all over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. After that came his brother out and his hand took hold on Esau's heel and his name was called Jacob. Isaac was three score years old when she buried him. He's 60 years old. The boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. Some of you boys like that, right? Hey, that's what I want to be, a hunter and be out there in the woods, right? Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. He liked to be there on the open prairie, one man liked the other place, in the woods perhaps, one man likes the plains. It says in verse 28, Isaac loved Esau because he'd eat of his venison, not exactly a great thing, but I understand what he's saying here, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Parents shouldn't have favorites, I don't think it's a wise thing, but there will be maybe a child they identify with more so. Anyway, verse 29, and Jacob saw a pottage, and Esau came from the field, he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray thee, Same red pottage, for I'm faint. Therefore, his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. Sounds like brothers, right? Making moves against each other, trying to get the advantage. Jacob, being the younger brother, would not get the birthright in their culture. And so, opportunity is knocked. Gonna take advantage here. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And this is where Esau makes a foolish decision in his heart. Who cares? He doesn't care about the birthright. And Jacob said, Swear to me this day. And he's swearing to him, and he's sold his birthright unto Jacob. And then he gave them. And it says at the end, thus Esau despised his birthright. Part of that birthright goes back to the reality that the God of his father and of his grandfather had been given a promise to make their seed as the sand of the seashore, as the stars of heaven, and to give them the promised land, the land that we even know today as a nation of Israel. And so God had given this promise, and Esau doesn't really care about it. Esau, who had the opportunity, doesn't care, he despises birthright, but Jacob wanted it. And I appreciate that about Jacob. He wants that birthright. In chapter 27, jump ahead to chapter 27, and you look down to verse number six, Here we see Jacob and his mother scheming together to influence Isaac to give Jacob the blessing. It was also cultural that when someone was passed, he would lay his hand on and bless the children and blessed, and the oldest would get the special blessing. And so, I don't know if Isaac even knew what Jacob and Esau had determined back there in chapter 25, but he wants to give Esau the blessing. And it says in verse number six, and Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother. And he goes through, she goes through the story about, you know, he wants some meat brought in and he's gonna bless him. You jump down to verse number 30, and it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, so in the previous verses, Isaac actually blessed Jacob, and then Esau shows up and wants the blessing, and Isaac realizes, oh no, who have I blessed? and they realize what has transpired. And look at verse 41 as a result. And Esau hated Jacob. That's sin. It is wrong for us to hate. No matter what people do unto us, it is a wrong thing for us to hate. Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, the days of mourning for my father are at hand, then will I slay my brother Jacob. Why is God against hatred? because hatred leads to murder. And the best thing we could ever do in our hearts is have truth ruling our hearts, have love ruling our hearts, because then we won't carry out action against people. And it's so vital that we protect our hearts and shield our hearts and guard our hearts. Don't let hatred, don't let bitterness and anger take root in your heart, or you'll find your heart turned against people. And ultimately, the devil will use that to turn your heart against God. And that's a dangerous place for our hearts to arrive. Verse 42, in these words of Esau, her elder son were told to Rebekah, and she went and called Jacob, her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau is touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. Oh boy. Now this is easy to read. Put yourself in Jacob's shoes. You already cheated him out of the birthright. Now you've cheated him out of the blessing. You say, well, he deserved it. However you want to argue it, it doesn't really matter. That's the facts. And in some ways, I don't blame Esau. But it's still wrong for Esau to respond this way. So here's Jacob. What are you going to do? Put yourself in Jacob's shoes. Are you going to fight him? I mean, that's what brothers do sometimes. Are you going to fight him? Are you going to settle this with fists? What are you going to do? Oh, he wants to kill me? Uh-oh. What are we going to do? Well, the plan is made for him to flee, to run. And in chapter 28, That's exactly what happens. Rebecca convinces him, you should go back to my people and take a wife among those people. And so they tell Isaac and Isaac gets involved and away he goes back to a different area. And God uses this experience. Look at chapter 27. But we already mentioned verse 43. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice and arise. Flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran. Tarry with him for a few days until thy brother's fury turn away, until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that thou hast done to him. Then I will send and fetch thee from thence. Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? And that's what they come up with. That's the plan. And as he's fleeing in chapter 28, look down to verse number 10. And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took up the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and on the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angel of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and he said, I am the Lord God of Abraham my father. and the God of Isaac. the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in thee, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. Wow! Here he is, on the run, fleeing from his brother Esau. He comes to this place called Luz, and he's there, and he has this dream, and God is speaking to him. Thankfully, today, we have the Word of God. You want God to speak to you, just like He spoke to Jacob? Get in the book, and taste and see that God is good, even as you read the book. His book. But we see here that Jacob is being spoken to by God, the God of thy father Abraham, thy father Isaac, and now God is saying to him, the promise is yours as well. He's not saying this, but I'm imagining Jacob thinking, is this what Jacob wants? All week long, and even in the weeks and months leading up to camp, God is offering his promises to you as well. You hear as you read, you hear as you hear preaching, you hear through testimony, all these promises, all these things that God has done for people older than you. And the question is, what will you do with that? The same promises that my generation and the one before me is now before you, will you take those same promises of God and taste and see that God is good and take them as your own? And that's exactly what Jacob is dealing with. God is promising to bless him, to make his family, to multiply throughout the earth and to spread abroad and be a blessing in all those places throughout Israel. And then throughout the world, they'd be a blessing as well. Verse 16, and Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said, surely the Lord is in this place. And I knew it not. And he was afraid and said, how dreadful is this place? This is none other but the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put for his pillows and set up for a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it. Watch verse 20. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, if God will be with me." So here he is contemplating this promise that God just gave him. God is going to do this for him. God has promised his presence. His promises, his presence is being offered to Jacob. And he says, if God will be with me. and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on. I mean, he's fleeing. He's got nothing. He's been in his father's house. He's been blessed by his dad. He's been under his father's umbrella, so to speak, all these years. Now he's got to flee. He's got to learn to trust God. He's got to learn that God can and will be good to him, he's got to learn to trust him. Verse 21, so that I come again to my father's house in peace. Why does he need to go back home in peace? Because his brother wants to kill him. I mean, it's that serious. It's a big situation. This is a big problem. And now I'm going to trust God that as He takes me to a different place, that He's going to bless me. He's going to bless me with life. He's going to fulfill His promises. His presence will be with me. And when I come back one day, that I get to come home in peace. You know what Jacob is setting himself up for? To taste and see that God is good. And what I'm challenging you with this morning is this thought. Will you taste and see? God has given you a whole book of promises. God has promised you His presence. And now He's gonna allow you, the older you get, to experience the opportunity to truly put the practice and taste and see that God is good. Now we know that He is in our minds. but it's the experiences of life, it's the learning to trust God, it's the learning to take His promises and truly put them to the test that will cause us to truly worship Him. Let's move forward. It was a fearful place for Jacob. He said it was a dreadful place, and yet he makes this vow. He says in verse 21 again, he says, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my God. He's always God. But Jacob says, when I go through this experience, I am going to learn how good God is He will be my God. He's about to experience, we're gonna, not for time sake, we're gonna fast forward. He gets his wife and there's some deception played back on him, right? Well, even though God promises to bless him, he's not immune from the law of sowing and reaping. And God will be good and God promises all things to work together for good, but the law of sowing and reaping is still in there. And so be wise, be wise young adults in what you sow because you will reap no matter what. That's a law that we cannot escape. We move forward, we move forward to chapter 32, Genesis chapter 32. During this time, More than two decades have passed. Jacob ends up with many children. He's blessed. He's got a lot of cattle. I mean, he's learned a lot. He's learned how good God is. And yet there's one thing that remains. He's still not right with his brother Esau. He still needs to go home in peace. He's been in a far away country, so to speak. He's been away from home, and the time has come for him to return. In chapter 32, if you look at verse number 3, it says, "...and Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau." He's on his way back. and before he can go back home, he's gonna have to prepare the way, and so he sends messengers to Esau, his brother, into the land of Seir, the country of Edom, and he commanded them, saying, Thou shalt ye speak unto my lord Esau. Notice how he calls him. It seems like Jacob's even humbled himself. He's grown up a lot. In the next 20 years, you're gonna grow up a lot. and you'll consider it a blessing. And you're like, wow, I'm so glad God has developed my heart and mind and brought me forward in life. And how do I get there? Stay in the book, stay close to God, let your heart be soft and tender so God can teach you and instruct you. Jacob is humble, he says, my Lord Esau, thy servant Jacob calls himself a servant, saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now. And I have oxen and asses and flocks and men's servants and women's servants, and I have sent to tell my Lord that I might find grace in thy sight. Isn't it a blessing to get right? For a long time, these two brothers have been estranged from each other. And now Jacob is making the move to make things right. It's so sweet to make things right. Humble yourself. If you're at odds with somebody, humble yourself. Get right with God and get right with that person and find the sweetness of being right, especially with our brothers and sisters. He humbles himself to seek his brother Esau. He humbles himself to seek the Lord, verse 9, and Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which said unto me, Return to thy country and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. And so he's doing that. Back in verse 6, it says, And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four other men with him. And Jacob was concerned, he's afraid. In verse 7, he's distressed. Oh no, my brother's coming. Last I saw him, he wants to kill me. And now he's coming with 400 men. Oh no! What's he gonna do? Verse 11, deliver me, I pray thee, praying to God, from the hand of my brother and from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. And so he lodges there that same night in verse 13. And if you've read the story, you know what takes place. We'll jump down to verse number 24. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled the man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, and he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. This campground even named after this experience. Jacob was a man who wanted to taste and see God's goodness. And now it's come a couple decades later, where the vow he had vowed previously, and here he comes, and here comes Esau. And it seems like it's not gonna go well. And so he gets alone with God. and he wrestles with the Lord, implying and showing that he would not let go until God fulfilled his promise. Sometimes God has to give us some extreme and dire circumstances to show us how good he really is. And there are oftentimes things that we would never choose on our own. But we find ourselves in a circumstance that we can't fix. We don't know what to do. We cannot fix it. God has to. And that's when we see how good God is. Let's read on. We're not done. Chapter 33. It's so exciting. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau came, and with him 400 men. And he divided the children unto Leah and unto Rachel and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he passed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. And so as he sees his brother in the distance, he's bowing down, showing his humility and his submission, the one he has supplanted, the one he had cheated, all that time ago. The one he's trusting God to have done something in Esau's heart because he's about to come kill me. And certainly his fury and his rage, after all these years, must have intensified. And as he goes farther, he kneels down again. Seven times he kneels down as his brother's approaching and as he's approaching his brother. Watch verse 4. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. Wow! God is good. And that's easy for us to read. But put yourself in that place. Put yourself in Jacob's shoes. You think he's about to kill you. And what happens instead? Let's rewind. Somewhere along the way, God was at work in the life of Esau. You know, we oftentimes chalk Esau up as a bad dude, but I have respect for Esau here. He humbled himself, obviously already in his heart, forgiving his brother Jacob. So when the time came, and maybe Esau was just waiting for the day when Jacob would come get right with him. And as he knows that Jacob's hard and he can see the submission and the humility, and he was already ready to forgive his brother, because he'd already done it. And they ran together and they hugged and embraced and they kissed each other and they just wept. Two brothers separated for so long, now reunited. God had prepared Esau's heart. God had prepared Jacob's heart. And I can just imagine Jacob thinking, God is good. God gave me a promise. God gave me his presence. God has proven to me he's good. And yet, I had asked God that when you bring me back to the land, I want you to bring me back in peace with my brother. And God did that. He tasted, he saw, God is good. Look at back in Psalm 34. We started there and we end there. Psalm 34. You see, Jacob is not the only one that needed to taste and see that God is good. Psalm 34 gives us some practical insight and instruction on what Jacob went through. what David himself had to learn as well. We're gonna look at the first three verses, how David is freely, and then the worship and the praise is freely flowing from David. Well, you know, do we know anything about David's life? I mean, is it because of his heritage that he is so free to worship God? No. Jacob had to come to the place where it was my God, and from that time forward, it's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's Jacob's God. God is good. He's my God. He's good to me. He did that in my brother's life. He fulfilled his word. He fulfilled his promises. He was present with me. God did that. He's my God. And when God is your God, and you have tasted and seen that God is good, the praise and the worship is just gonna flow. You don't have to create it. You don't have to fabricate it. You don't have to put it on when other people are. It's just gonna be who you are. But oftentimes, as human as we are, we have to go through something. What did David go through? A lot! I mean, from a young man with the bear and the lion, as a shepherd boy, to facing Goliath, to being hunted like a dog by King Saul, to having his own son rebel against him. He went through so many things. And David was able to freely worship and praise God and glorify His name, because he has tasted and seen so many times how God is good. It says in verse number four of this psalm, I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. 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 of his troubles. All right, application time. Some of you have some fears in life. Say, how do you know? You're human, you're like me. We have fears. We have real fears. Some of you are 15, 14, 17, 18. I mean, there's some real fears that you have. You know what God wants to do with those fears? He wants you to taste and see how good He is to help you with those fears. I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. You have a fear? Something you're afraid of? Something that's really, you're really concerned about? You probably do. And God wants to use that in your life so you can taste and see. He has a promise. There's a promise somewhere in this book for your fear. You say, well, how do I know where that promise is? Well, start digging. Phone a friend. Ask your pastor. Ask your parents. Ask a godly friend, hey, this is my fear. Do you know of a passage that I can memorize and want to have in my brain so God can use it through this experience to lodge it into my heart? What fears? What troubles? Look at verse six. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles. I know you have troubles too. As the sparks fly upward, so man is born into trouble. You've got troubles, I've got troubles, we've all got troubles. And God wants to take that trouble. You've got a troubled heart, something's troubling you, something's really hurting you. There's a lot of hurts today. We live in a world of eight billion people, and we live too close to each other sometimes, amen? Especially on the East Coast. We've got a lot of troubles. Sometimes troubles as a result of my own decision making. Sometimes troubles as the result of someone else's decision making. And sometimes troubles just because. And there's no explanation for it. But it's real. And it's troubling my heart. God wants to teach you something. God wants you to see, to taste, and see how good he is to deliver you from your fears and to save you from your troubles. And so God wants you to truly seek him. Taste and see, it says in Jeremiah 29 verse 13, you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all of your heart. And so we've got to truly be seeking the Lord so that we can secondly be truly fearing the Lord. He says in the next verse, the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him. and delivereth them. We learn to trust God and we learn to fear God. What is fear? It means having reverence and respect. And I understand that you were growing up in a time where respect and reverence practically don't exist in society. Whereas in my generation, it was still a fabric of society. where you had respect and reverence for people in places of leadership, in positions of authority, in the school, in public. That was part of our society 50 years ago. And I see today, it's about gone. And it's hard, it's hard in your generation to understand what it means to fear God. Because we don't know what it's like even in human relationships. But if I can define reverence, it's simply this. It is having the utmost respect. Not being afraid, but pretty close. Why? Because when there's reverence and respect for God or someone in a position of authority and I'm going against them, there are consequences. And they're not good consequences. But there are good consequences when I have respect and reverence, especially for our holy creator. We need a reverence, we need to have a fear of God. And taste and see, you know, it's the fear of God we want all the time, but you study the Proverbs, you study the Psalms, it's the fear of God that tendeth to life. It's the fear of the Lord that causes us to depart from evil. It's the fear of God that causes us to be satisfied in life. Do a study when you go home of the fear of the Lord. Just do a word search in your Bible app. I'm sure you all got Bible apps, right? Just do a word search of the fear of the Lord and taste and see how God is so good to them that fear Him. For when we're truly seeking the Lord, and we're truly fearing the Lord, and we're truly trusting the Lord, verse eight says, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Come, ye children, hearken to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? You want a good life? Have the fear of the Lord. Trust the Lord. Hear what he says. 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. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Here's a way, here's a verse to just take home with you. God says, the righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Did Jacob do that? Absolutely. God appeared to Jacob in that dream, and he gave him the promise of his presence, and he says that he vowed a vow, okay God, okay, I am going to taste, and I'm gonna see, and I don't think he's just simply trying it in the sense of doubting it. He knows that God's gonna do it, and he's gonna go experience it. God wants you, by faith, to taste and see the righteous. They cry, and the Lord heareth, and he delivereth them out of all their troubles. Taste and see. Pursue after him. Seek him. Verse 18, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and save as such be of a contrite spirit. Verse 22, the Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. This psalm alone tells us that David went through some things in life where he had to taste and see that God is good. He even wrote a song about it. And he's challenging you and me based upon his experiences. He's challenging us to taste and see that God is good. Will you taste, will you take God's promise for your fear, for your trouble? Will you take God's promise and say, yep, I'm gonna taste and see how good God is. I'm gonna seek him, I'm gonna pursue after him. As Jacob went and wrestled with the Lord all night long, he was gonna taste and see how good God is, and he became my God. And when you taste and see, because you sought Him, and you trusted Him, and you feared Him, and you taste and see, you will walk away with praise, with worship, and you'll say in your heart, my God. Not your parents' God. Not your grandparents' God. Not your pastor's God. And I'm thankful that you have those examples. He needs to be your God. so that you can tell the generation following you what my God has done, because you've tasted and you've seen. Father, thank you for who you are. Thank you for...