God Never Withholds Good

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

Even in the middle of a garden of paradise, in enters the sleazy serpent slithering over to Eve carrying out his plan of seduction. First he invites Eve to question God’s goodness, “Did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”  Secondly, he lures her to doubting the accuracy and value of God’s Word in blatantly calling God a liar, “You surely will not die.” Lastly, he presents God as a withholder, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

We find ourselves in the Garden every time our thoughts cause us to question if God’s holding out on us. Our questioning may sound like, “God why didn’t you…? This is the first lure leading you down the descent of false belief. The final step leads you to believe God is withholding by refusing to grant your request. Deceitful lies spoken by our culture say “The Bible makes no sense, make your own decisions.” Advertisements declare what we need and deserve if we will only purchase the item. After all, “You’re worth it!”

What Eve wanted, and what God wanted to protectively withhold, was the knowledge of evil.  Eve and Adam’s deadly bite into the fruit that appeared “good” introduced evil into the world. Everyone living has felt and experienced the catastrophic impact.

How thankful we are to have a loving and protective Father who withholds granting our requests and upgrades us by providing what is truly “good.”  I’m glad He always discerns the difference between what I believe to be good and what is truly better.

Personal Response

• Reflect on past prayer requests where God said no in order to provide what was best. Thank Him for protecting you from your desires and requests.
• Ask God to always trump your wants and upgrade your requests by giving you what is truly “good.”