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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?

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