No Good Thing Does He Withhold

Yesterday's scripture on my daily scripture calendar really hit home. "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. O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you." Psalm 84:11-12.

With Ted's current state of unemployment, it felt good to know that no good thing will be withheld from us. Ted's starting to let some of his hurt feelings surface. He doesn't get carried away...he'll just voice his frustration. His anger is not with God, but the people who let him go. How could this happen? He worked so hard! Is this the payment he gets? You could say that he just didn't feel it was fair...that he was...blameless. The next day gave us this scripture message. In the shower this morning (all of my good thinking is done in the shower), I was pondering the whole idea of "God doesn't make bad things happen to people", he allows them to happen. "God always works good for those who love the Lord." I've heard these statements a lot. And I believe them. I believe that some things may happen that seem bad, but God always has the greater good in mind. I do think it happens to go well with my optimistic, hopeful nature to believe these statements, too. I simply want to believe them with all I have.

When a bad thing happens, I always try to figure out why. Don't they also say, "Everything happens for a reason"?. I hate it when people say this to someone to make them feel better because I think it is a week, pat answer. Something you don't want to hear when you are truly saddened by something. However, I must really believe that statement, because I'm trying to analyze God's big picture to figure out why this is happening to us. Yes, me in my measly, small, human mind...I'm trying to figure out God's big picture. One of the things I've concluded is that maybe he didn't want us at that cable company anymore. He figured there was a better place for Ted...so he allowed some new VP to come in and lay off, at will, who he deemed wasn't necessary for the company's success. When I think of what happened, I feel hurt, but when I think of God being the orchestrator of the event, then it feels like we are walking a path that God is paving. And that feels much better. So I'm going to continue to think of it that way. We don't know where it's going...but I have to believe it is good. Because God is good. And "no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless".