Which food do eight out of 10 cats prefer? What margarine is indistinguishable from butter? What packet of washing powder would no one change for two of another brand?
Persuading people has become much more difficult. We are used to the exaggerated claims, the slick line in patter, the Freudian undertones, the subliminal assault on the mind and will.
Politicians and preachers suffer from consumer resistance, too. The word is out that Ireland is prowled by con-men and women, predatory sharks whose agenda is primarily self-advancement, with a vested interest in making us believe in them.
Advertisers want the public to believe in them and buy their products. Politicians want the vote for their parties. Preachers want their hearers to believe in them and join their churches. As far as Joe Public is concerned, they are all professional propagandists out to manipulate the credulous with their eloquence. How, then, does the church communicate the gospel to all people (obedience to Jesus's last words, known as the Great Commission, being the church's primary agenda) when the average man or woman walks round clad in psychological Kevlar armour? Tomorrow's reading from Psalm 34 gives an answer in the form of a commercial which needs no market research, no professional expertise, no modern technology. This commercial is still the most effective and compelling form of persuasion: personal recommendation.
King David, the psalmist, gets right on message, saying: "I've been in serious trouble but I experienced the goodness of God in the most remarkable way. He delivered me, and I long to share that experience with others who are in trouble."
Simulating insanity, David had escaped the vengeful clutches of his predecessor, King Saul, in the safe haven of neighbouring Philistine territory, even though though David had been a notorious killer of Philistines. Amazing good luck? No, David testifies, this was divine deliverance, a specific answer to prayer:
I will extol the Lord at all times;
His praise will always be on my lips.
My soul will boast in the Lord;
Let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with me:
Let us exalt his name together.`
David is pumped up with excitement and relief, radiant, and his claim is that people who look to God in their troubles can experience a deliverance like his. No Brand X is being hyped-up here, for David burbles that this product has his personal recommendation. Faith in God does the business and all who exercise it can enjoy similar benefits:
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his saints,
For those who fear him lack nothing. . .
Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord
The psalmist is now detailing the price of this product, which is first a profound and serious respect for God, expressed as "fear of the Lord". Secondly, it involves a sincere commitment to God's moral standards:
Whoever of you loves life
And desires to see many good days,
Keep your tongues from evil And your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it"
Put together, these two things are the necessary foundation for a personal relationship with the living God. Of course, David isn't peddling a line that Christians are thereby immune from all ill, with life getting better and better every day in every way. What he does claim is that if we taste and see God's goodness, we will know his loving presence in our sorrow, his strengthening protection in conflict and his pardoning redemption for our sin and guilt.
Can we speak in such terms of our experience with God? Yes, when our religion becomes one of personal pronouns, and not just a matter of third-person generalisations. When our knowledge of God embraces the same personal conviction that David unselfconsciously radiates, we'll know we have really found the God of the Bible.
Then there'll be a genuine story to tell, a personal, honest-to-God recommendation from another satisfied customer that will disarm the resistance and cynicism: "Taste and see that the Lord is good - glorify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together."
G.F.