Skip to main content

Lacking No Good Thing.


The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:7-10)


 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:28-34)


          How do you define “good”? If you’re like me, good tends to have three basic meanings. There is good in the sense of the opposite of bad/evil. There is good as in positive, helpful, healthful, beneficial. And there is the sort of good that means I like it.          In today’s passage, we are promised protection or delivery, refuge, blessing, a lack of lack, and the lack of no good thing, if we fear God, who take refuge in Him, and who seek Him. We tend to forget the conditions and feel cheated by God because He doesn’t give us all the things He’s promised. 
          So, what is good? Immunity to COVID-19 would be good. A couple million dollars would be good. Someone to come do the yard work or housekeeping would be good. World peace would be good. A cure for all the kinds of cancer, HIV/AIDs, Alzheimer’s, and the various auto-immune diseases would be good. I can think of whole bunches of things that might be considered good that God doesn’t seem to be providing at the moment. 
          So, what does God promise us when He promises us good? This passage tells us to taste and see that the Lord is good. That means that those who seek the Lord don’t lack the Lord. They find Him. For some, that’s disappointing. They aren’t interested in the Lord. They want to check off their list of everything but the Lord. They want all the things they want. Some are willing to forego the things on their list that aren’t good in the sense of the opposite of bad/evil. We want what we want, as long as we don’t perceive anyone being hurt by it. That perception on our part must mean it’s good. Except, it doesn’t because that asserts that our perception is correct and on the same level as God’s, It requires that we be like the Most High, knowing good and evil (and everything else.) 
          Does all this mean it’s wrong to want anything other than God? There’s no evidence in Scripture that such is the case. Jesus taught His disciples to ask for their daily bread. He pointed to the sparrows and the lilies and said that the Father knows what we need, but that we should seek first the kingdom of God, and all these (other) things will be added. 
          Over the past couple days, the question has come to mind about how to seek first the kingdom, how to pray for “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” in connection with COVID-19. It’s my will that the disease evaporates into thin air never to be heard from again. I don’t think it’s wrong for us to pray that the plague be taken away. But how does that good fit with God’s idea of good? How does that good fit with the spread of His kingdom. How many people will turn to Him because of this disease? How many people will seek Him?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more