January 30, 2015
Psalm 84:10-12
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
Five blogs to cover three verses?!! But there is so much packed into God’s Word that we could spend months on just one Psalm! And I don’t know if with today’s blog we will get to the end of Psalm 84:10 through 12, but we’ll try.
…a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a door-
keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For
the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no
good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of
hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You.
The last part of verse 11 says, “…no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Remember from the last blog that the phrase just before what we are looking at today states, “…the LORD will give grace and glory…..” And we saw that grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. In brief, we deserve condemnation and hell – God gives us eternal life and heaven! And with the life He brings to us, there are many other things spelled out or hinted at in several Bible passages:
• Psalm 34:10 – “…those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.”
• Psalm 68:19 – “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation.”
• Psalm 116:12 and 13 – “What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.”
• Lamentations 3:21 through 26 – “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul; therefore I hope in Him. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”
• Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
• James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
This doesn’t exhaust the scriptures about God’s goodness and giving, but you get the idea! But remember, the good that God gives may not be the good that we have in mind! I wrote a blog on March 8, 2013 called What’s God’s Purpose for Me? In it I describe that His purpose for all Christians is to make us more and more into the image of His Son Jesus Christ! (see Romans 8:29; II Corinthians 3:18; I John 3:2). But in order to do that, He has to cut out a lot of un-christ-like-ness from our lives! And that can hurt! Being made more and more into the image of Jesus Christ is the ultimate good for any Christian, but it will cause pain! And pain in our lives is not usually perceived by us as good!
But one thing I have learned along the way of 49 years of following my Lord, the more I submit to His Lordship (Psalm 84:11 calls it “…those who walk uprightly…”) – even if it causes pain in some areas of my life – the more my life is filled with Him and the fruit of His Holy Spirit – “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22 and 23 – NIV). And that is good!
Finally, in verse 12 of Psalm 84 we see “O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You.” Blessed in the Hebrew is in the masculine plural. So I guess you could say “…the man who trusts in…” the Lord has the happies! Well, let’s just quickly review the happies God gives to us as outlined in our scripture:
• Psalm 84:10 – We go from living in wickedness to being declared righteous!
• Psalm 84:10 – Our dwelling place is exchanged from the temporary tent of the wicked to the solid and eternal temple of God!
• Psalm 84:11 – God becomes both the sun to light our way in life, and the shielding shade we need. Also, we learned the shield is a symbol of surrender to Him as our Lord and Master.
• Psalm 84:11 – He gives us grace – giving us so many good things that we do not deserve! And He gives us glory – we actually share now and forever in the glory of God!
• Psalm 84:12 – He does not withhold any good thing from us as we need it.
Truly, “O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You…”!