“For the Lord God is our sun and shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing form those who do what is right.”-Psalm 84:11
This passage conveys a wonderful truth about God: God is not holding out on you! The reason that so many people never fully live for God is because they have believed the lie that God, is some way, holding out on them. A scheme the devil has been using since the dawn of humanity.
“ The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.”-Genesis 3:1-7
The serpent was shrewd! Isn’t it interesting that the devil never focuses on the many blessings that God has given us, he simply focuses on what he believes that we are lacking. Notice how Satan carefully crafts his question: “Did God really say you may not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
Eve replied that they were allowed to eat from all the trees in the garden, except for one tree in the middle of the garden. That’s the only one God had told them not to touch or they would die.
Satan was able to get Eve to acknowledge that there was one tree off limits and we all know that the quickest way to get some people to do something is to tell them not to do it. How, often do we fall into that trap? We overlook every other good thing that God has given us and fixate on the one thing He has not. Satan was able to deceive Eve by sowing seeds of doubt. First, he tempted Eve to doubt God’s Word. He asked questions like; “Did God truly say?”. Then he tempted to her to doubt God’s character by suggesting that He was holding something good back from them.
Genesis 3:6 tells us that Eve became convinced! Convinced of what? She was convinced that God had something more to give and was not giving it to her. Author John Piper commenting on this passage wrote:
“Satan was able to tempt Adam and Eve into sin by drawing their focus to the one thing “missing” from their life. He convinced them that God was ruining their life by withholding the one thing that would actually make them happy: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)”
However, if we re-read Psalm 84:11, we see that it doesn’t say that God will not withhold anything from you. It says that He will not withhold anything good from those who do what is right.
That means that there will be some things that are not good for us that God intentionally withholds from us for our benefit. It also means that He may even, at times, withhold what is good because we will not do what is right with it.
Pastor Scott Burr
Dayspring Community Church
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