"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold to those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in Thee!"
Psalm 84:11,12

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. 3:17 Psalm 84:11,12 The sun gives energy to the earth. The earth is the source of all natural wealth. Either it is from farming, ranching, mining, timber, hunting or fishing. All other jobs spin off or derive from these primary sources. Without the energy that comes from the sun, all plant and animal life stops. Jesus is the source of spiritual life for us. If we lose contact with Him we lose the source of life that sustains us spiritually. Only as we are in communion with Him will we be able to prosper and grow spiritually. All these things come from Him and we need always to be looking and waiting for Him. "For in Him we live and move and exist,..." (Acts 17:28) Look to the Lord for protection and His protection will prove to be better than those devised by man in the end. The Lord God is a shield. The shield represents protection. Man has devised many ways to protect himself from the many disasters we all face, the stock market. Insurance, savings, family, government, the military, religion, etc. Don't be fooled to think there is a foundation other than Jesus. We can go to Jesus for our help and we can trust Him for our security. Some boast in chariots and some in horses but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God. (Ps. 20:7) Many people have rejected this in practicality because, there are times when there are needs and God does not come through. But God is looking for those who have a heart that is completely His. (2 Chron. 16:9) He is not so much worried that we become rich and have an easy life, He is looking to build our character and grow us into a people useful in His service. As we submit to the Lordship of Jesus, He will lead us to the best life for us. He will not choose the path we have chosen. (Isa. 55:8) It will be the best for us to trust Him. Look to the Lord for protection and His protection will prove to be better than those devised by man in the end. I remember the Missouri river flooding the dikes that the Corps of Engineers had built a couple of years ago to protect the land. These dikes were designed to withstand all floods except the worst every 100 years. The flood that came, was more powerful then the dikes. Then, two years later in 1995, the floods topped the dikes again. The plans of man were based on history. They did not consider the predictions of the end times flooding in the Bible. We can be sure when we trust God, His ways of taking care of us and His leading will be best. The Lord gives grace. Grace is God's free gift to us. We can't do anything to earn it. We don't get it because we deserve it. It is given to us. We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8 9) As we live day by day, God continues to give His grace. We are asked to come boldly into His throne room to receive grace. (Heb. 4:16) It is not something God gives out in small amounts. We receive it freely. It is given freely to all that avail themselves to the opportunities the Lord gives us. The Lord gives glory. The glory God gives is linked to the power of God. Romans 6:4 talks about the glory of God the Father raising Jesus from the dead. "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (Rom. 6:4) The blood of Jesus also is linked to God's power. "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen." (Heb 13:20,21) Jesus was brought up from the dead by God's glory and the blood that was shed for our sins. "And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its eternal power." (Acts 2:24 ) When God gives glory, He is giving His power to us. "and if children, heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." (Rom. 8:17) God's promises are given as we work with Jesus. I have discussed with co-workers how it would be nice if the job wasn't so hard. But the issue then becomes why are they paying us? If there was no hard part to the job, would they pay us anything? In effect we are being paid to deal with the problems of the job. No problems no pay. The sufferings of Christ are related to the job we are doing for God. No sufferings no power. "And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Tim. 3:12) Godly living is living according to the leading of the Holy Spirit by faith. The kingdom of heaven is given to those that are persecuted for the sake of Christ. (Matt. 5:10,11) All power is given to us. "This power is too much," we say. "It's too awesome. Surly this is not true. Can it be true?" No good thing does He withhold to him who walks uprightly. (Ps. 84:11) "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us." (Eph. 3:20) The blood is actively cleansing us from sin right now. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. ( 1 John 1:7) Greater works will we do because Jesus goes to the Father and gives the Holy Spirit to us to help. (Jn. 14:12) Remember how God has led you in the past and trust Him to continue leading you now. No good thing does He withhold to them that walk uprightly! Those who walk uprightly will be involved with the sun and shield and grace and glory. Then the good things that the Lord gives will come to those who walk uprightly. God does not withhold good things from us. We can negate the blessings of God by our actions. What God wants from us is to walk uprightly. How is this accomplished? Search the scriptures to see what God wants. (Eph. 5:10) Pray for the will of God in your life and then obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. It really is not very complicated. What is hard is the obedience. We all want to do the things that seem good to us. We want to stay in the knowledge we have. God's ways are not our ways. (Isa. 55:8,9) If we always judge things according to the ways of the world, we will not be in unity with God and will rationalize away God's leading as impractical. The Bible says we are to have our minds renewed so we can walk the walk of faith. (Rom. 12:1,2) God will lead us through the Bible and prayer to the work He has for us. (Isa. 58:11) Plan for the future, (Ps. 90:12) but don't worry about it, today has enough troubles of its own. (Matt. 6:34) Remember how God has led you in the past and trust Him to continue leading you now. For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have entrusted unto Him until that day (2 Tim. 1:12) Renew your mind in the word. (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23) Pray and hear God and obey as He leads you. "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord equip you in every good thing, to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen". (Heb. 13:20,21) We think of the good things as swimming pools, new cars, a house, a wife and family and financial security. But in this passage of Hebrews God is showing us that the good things are the tools to do the will of the Father. God may bless us with many things as well, but let us not forget those who have needs. These tools will be given to us by the same power that raised up Jesus from the dead. There is no doubt that this is an awesome power and can accomplish what is set out to accomplish. God's word is like that. It goes forth and causes righteousness to spring forth. (Isa. 45:8) We can trust in the power of God to help us in trying situations. God will equip us. God can do it. It is done through prayer. Equipping comes as we receive from the sun (relationship with Jesus), trusting in the keeping power of Jesus, (shield). It comers as we receive grace at the foot of His throne because of our boldness to enter His throne room. Power flows from the throne room (His glory). Ability to do the job set before us is given, (good things from God) We are blessed as we trust in God. God will move on the behalf of those whose heart is completely His. (2 Chron. 16:9) Waiting for Him will put steel in our soul. "And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect,, confirm, strengthen and establish you." (1 Pt. 5:10) The ways of man would say, "because God did not answer our prayer immediately, He will not answer." God is not so interested in our short term request but in our long term growth. Waiting for Him will put steel in our soul. (Isa. 40:31) We can trust God. He will give us all we need. This trust frees us to serve. Because we know God has our best interests at heart, we can go knowing He is faithful in what we have intrusted to Him. (2 Tim. 1:12) We don't need to look out only for ourselves, but are free to go and serve the interests of others. (Rom. 15:1) The blessings of the Lord are bountiful. The Lord blesses us continually. One of the things that is so good from the Lord, is the inner joy we have in our daily life. There is so much in life and as we live for the Lord There is joy unspeakable and it is wonderful to live in the presence of the Lord. The Lord gives us joy and peace and we can trust Him to continue to give us all we need to serve Him. He will conie through for us and we can trust Him. We can truly say we are blessed as we trust in Jesus. Trust brings peace. Trust brings a calm evenness to life and trust brings strength that is a foundation for all other areas of life. Some would trust in possessions and investments but these will carry a burden with them because then one must take care of the possessions and worry about what they are going to do with the possessions. Possessions bring responsibility. Trust in Jesus brings opportunity and freedom. The context of this Psalm is being in the presence of the Lord. Those whose heart goes to the Lord v. 5 will receive the early rain that is a type of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Then as they receive the anointing, they will go from strength to strength. The anointing brings the strength. Tor of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.' (John 1:16) THE LORD'S PRESENCE IS STRENGTH. May God richly bless you. - - -Scott McCrae Home | Back to Top

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