Psalms 84:11

Psalms 84:11 NLT “For the LORD God is our light and protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will the LORD withhold from those who do what is right.”

Psalms 84:11 KJV “For the LORD God [is] a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good [thing] will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

God won’t keep from us anything that is good so long as we walk uprightly before him. He will give us every good thing if we do what is right. So if we aren’t receiving the things that we want, it is because of either of two reasons: either we aren’t walking uprightly or the thing we want isn’t a good thing.

Now, that is a rather black and white view of things. “You’re not getting the things you want? Well, either you’re a sinner or the things you want aren’t lining up with God’s will.” Either way, it puts it back on our faults. If our desires aren’t being fulfilled, it’s because we’re doing something wrong. Or, at the very least, because God sees that the thing we desire is in fact not a good thing for us (which goes back to us desiring things in God’s will).

While there is undoubtedly truth to all that, there’s something a lot of people miss. There is a deeper answer than the quick and simple “It’s your fault.”

We are no longer made right by our actions. Our righteousness is like filthy rags. No matter how pure we are or how holy we are, we’re still ugly as sin on the inside. (Pun intended.) We cannot walk uprightly before God through our actions, but rather through our decisions. When we make a daily choice to put Jesus Christ at the helm of our life; when we make a minute-by-minute decision to walk in the forgiveness and grace of God through a repentant and contrite heart; when we give ourselves over completely to the will of the Father and walk in the salvation He gave to us freely, then we are walking uprightly before the Lord. It isn’t anything we can achieve by attending every church service, singing the loudest during worship, being the first in the alter, refusing to be seen at the supermarket because sinners shop there, etc. It is nothing we can achieve by following every law and commandment in the Bible (because it is impossible for us to keep all the law, and if you fail in one part of the law, you fail in all…Paul’s words, not mine.) Therefore, it is by grace alone that we are considered “upright” or perfect before the Lord.

We humans have this horrible habit of turning to a merit-based system of grace. I’ve heard people all my life nearly wear out the scripture “not of works, lest any man should boast.” Yet in the very same conversation they talk about the clothes people should wear to church or the “proper” way to worship God. They preach against people that look a certain way or think differently than they do. I’ve even heard folks challenge a person’s salvation over such silly things as the kind of music they listen to or whether or not they have a tattoo. But the simple truth is that God’s view has no scale. There is black and white. Saved or unsaved. None of this “degrees of holiness” garbage that we have come up with. You either live and breathe and move in God’s grace or you don’t. That’s all there is to it. And if we live and breathe and move in God’s grace then we are made upright before Him; not by our actions or appearances but by the blood of Christ.

I have digressed into another topic completely, which was not my intention. But it’s a valid truth nonetheless. Now, on to the direction I was intending to head.

My son is about a year and a half old. He is my son. He doesn’t have to earn anything from me. It is not because of his merit that I give him food or shelter or even toys. I love him and would give him anything he wants that was within my power to give. But that does not mean that he receives everything he wants.

Being only 17 months old, Quinn has not yet quite grasped patience. When he is hungry, he is hungry. And when he is hungry, he wants to eat NOW. He doesn’t understand that it takes a few minutes to make him something to eat. Yet while he is upset and crying and he is sure he is going to die of starvation, is there any way I would let that happen to him? No! Of course not! What seems like a dire situation to a 17 month old child is nothing more than a box of mac’n’cheese and 10 minutes to a parent.

Sometimes we look at our finances and think “God! Your Word says that you wouldn’t keep any good thing from us, and paying my bills is a good thing! So why don’t I have the money to pay the bills!?!?! God!!! Where are you!?!?? God!!!?!?!? Waaaaaa!!! Waaaaaaa!!!! Waaaaaaaa!!!!!!” What seems like a dire situation to us is nothing more than God making macaroni and cheese. Quinn doesn’t understand that you have to boil the water, add the noodles, drain the water when the noodles get soft, add the butter and milk and cheese sauce, etc. All he knows is that he needs food and mom and dad have it. In the same way, we can’t see God working our miracles. We can’t see Him tugging on this individual’s heart to give, or moving this person into a different job to clear room for you to advance, or whatever. Just because we can’t see God boil the noodles doesn’t mean He isn’t going to feed us, it just means that He’s preparing dinner.

I would give anything in my power to make my son happy. But, there are things that he wants right now that he needs to wait a few years before he can receive them, either because he would be a damage to them or they would be a damage to him. For instance, Quinn loves music. He loves playing Daddy’s guitars and drums. But if I turned him loose with my new Les Paul guitar, he’d scratch it, beat it up, stand on it, break it, drool on it, and God only knows what else. (He has a little acoustic guitar that I gave him and he has done all sorts of crazy things to it.) If I gave him something of value and worth, something that is to be properly cared for and taken care of, he’d ruin it, simply because he doesn’t know better. Sometimes, God can’t give us the things we want yet simply because we don’t know how to properly handle it. Even though we feel like we do, or we think we are ready for it, God knows better and knows how to keep us from ruining something.

Quinn loves to sit in the driver’s seat of my pickup and pretend he’s driving. He can’t reach the pedals. He has to stand on the seat to hold the wheel. He loves to sit in my lap and drive with me (only a couple houses down to my parents house, never down the road). But if I started the truck and told him “Have fun!” and walked away from the moving vehicle, leaving the steering wheel in Quinn’s 17 month old hands, what do you suppose would happen? He’d hurt himself! He’d end up in a ditch or a house or another car or a telephone pole, and he’d injure himself. Is Quinn driving a bad thing? Not 15 years down the road. Right now, it would potentially be a disaster. It wouldn’t be good for him.

Quinn loves my wife’s brownies. If I let him eat his fill of brownies, would that be good? No, he’d eat himself sick and likely throw up and feel miserable. Brownies are a good thing, but giving something as powerful as my wife’s brownies to a child with no self-control or restraint would only make him sick and make me a bad father.

God will not withhold any good thing from us. If we are walking in His grace and are in right standing before God through that grace, He will give us every good thing. Some good things are to be received immediately and some are to be received when we are older, wiser, and more mature. Some things we think would be good for us would actually be a detriment to us, often in ways we could never comprehend. This is where faith comes in. We need to have faith that God knows what he is doing and that He has our best interest at heart, and we need to take Him at His word that He won’t keep any good thing from us. And lastly, we need to have faith that God knows what things are good for us and what things are not.