I’m not sure you’ll find references to baked pastries in the Bible, unless you count a serving of good old humble pie.
The expression began as umble pie. “Umbles” were the heart, liver, and inner organs of an animal. Wealthier people received the choice cuts, while the poorer people were left with the umbles. Eventually, “eating umble pie” became “eating humble pie,” meaning an experience that brings you down a few notches.
The psalmist, apparently, had just eaten a slice.
In our passage today, he twice mentions being humbled.
We aren’t told exactly what happened. But the Hebrew word translated "humbled" or “afflicted” carries the sense of being bowed down or brought low. Whatever the experience was, it changed the psalmist’s appetite.
Before he was humbled, he wandered. Afterward, he hungered for God’s instruction.
And some have seen that hunger hiding in the Hebrew text. In verse 66, the psalmist asks God for “good judgment.” The word translated “judgment” can also mean taste. So, the psalmist is asking God to refine his spiritual palate. To help him recognize what is good.
That’s what humility can do. It changes what tastes good to us.
Before we are brought low, we may crave being right, being noticed, being comfortable, or being in control. Then life serves us some humble pie. While we wouldn’t choose the experience, it can reveal how unsatisfying some of our old cravings were.
By the end of the passage, the psalmist says God’s instruction is better than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. He has developed a taste for something money cannot buy.
I doubt humble pie is ever anyone's favorite dish. But sometimes, after eating it, we discover that our souls are finally hungry for something better.
Stay blessed...john
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