Psalm 84:11 ‘“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.”
Today’s devotion isn’t going to make you want to pump your fists in the air or charge the burning gates of Hades with a squirt gun in Jesus’ name, but I do hope that it will help you get through one of life’s really toughest valleys: when God says something is not a good thing for you.
You will notice in the key verse above that God says, “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” We tend to deal with God in a very transactional way. If I do this, then ergo I get that. It’s like going to McDonalds. I order the food, I pay for the food, I get the food. In the Christian economy, it is I live right and God gives me what I want. There is just one little catch in that thinking: God is the One who gets to decide what is good for us, not you and I.
There may be things that others around you get, but you don’t. You live right, pray right, and give right, but God says, “No.” You beg, bargain, and plead, but God says, “No.” Sometimes God may not be saying no for good or forever, but it may be no for right now. What you are asking for is not a good thing in your life right now. There may be some good things in life you pray for that are just normal things that just about everyone around you has or gets even without praying, but you don’t. Don’t get mad, don’t get bitter; just realize that God does still love you, He is still a good God, and He does know what is and what is not a good thing for you.
Robert Pophal | Pastor
Rose Park Baptist Church | Holland, MI
