For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Psalm 84:11
Satan’s temptation in the Garden of Eden was that God was withholding a good thing—fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s a temptation he still uses, he hints that God is keeping things from us that would make us happy. Yet this verse and others tell us that God wants to bless us. He has no desire to withhold good things from his people.
We may try to disqualify ourselves by saying our walk isn’t blameless. However, if we have accepted Christ as our Saviour our walk is blameless because Christ’s walk is blameless and we are ‘in him’ (Ephesians 1:13). No longer do we see ourselves as sinners, but saints that God has made holy (Hebrews 10:10 also 10:14 and 2:11). We are qualified to receive God’s good things.
Our definition of a ‘good thing’ and God’s may be vastly different. I see good things as those that add to my comfort and pleasure. Good things that will make my life easier. Eve thought that gaining ‘the knowledge of good and evil ‘ was a good thing but she lost innocence and intimacy. She lost more than she gained.
God’s definition of ‘good things’ are those which bring us to maturity in Christ, that restore and redeem us to all that God intends. Some of God’s good things may be initially painful as he works healing in us.
To be better receivers of all that God has for us, we must know in the core of our being that God is good and no good thing is withheld from us.
