Breaking Through

For the Lord is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)

In my more upbeat days, I can easily look around at the world, my life, and my circumstances and see the brilliant light of God shining down upon me and His protective shield around me. I feel His favor and the honor it is to be His. I celebrate the good things He has showered upon me, echoing the words of James: ‘every good and perfect gift comes down from You, o Father of lights.’

But at other times, my life and the world seem more like the valley of the shadow of death than the lush green pastures watered by life-giving streams. I cannot see the way forward. I feel the weight of doubt or depression. I question where God is and what good things He is giving now.

Where are you living now? Are these words in Psalm 84 merely passing happy thoughts that don’t penetrate real life? Or do these words come from a place of resilient truth that can meet us both on the mountaintops and in the dark valleys?

God is a joyful God and yet a sorrowful God.

He knows the heights of joy because He made those mountaintops, but He also knows the depths of darkness because He Himself went under the veil of death’s shadow. He sees them both and He has experienced them both. Sometimes we touch the good things and know them to be the goods they are. At other times, we feel He is holding back from us the good things we desire. It is quite possible that His withholding of things we would call good is actually the extending of grace for our greater good.

Wherever you are living today, call out to Him. Ask for His light to shine upon your way. Ask for Him to defend you from harm this day. Ask to see His favor and good things as you walk upright in His ways. Celebrate His work in your life, both in light and in shadows.