Hmmm…God, Are You Holding Out On Me?

This morning I was meditating on this Word in Psalm 84:11 from Our Father:

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (KJ21)

“For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.” (NLT)

In both translations, the subject is clear: Our Daddy God DOES NOT withhold any good thing from us as we walk as His righteous children. Some of you may be thinking, “I don’t ALWAYS do what’s right. Maybe that’s why I don’t have all the good things I desire.”

The scripture doesn’t point to the “works” of you just doing right for the sake of “getting” things from God. It more so speaks to your habitual heart posture. You’re not always going to “do” everything “right” on this side of the Earth. However, you do need to maintain your stance as being the “righteousness of God.” This means you DO walk uprightly because you have been made the righteousness of God. He already said it!

2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it like this:

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (NIV)

“God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God’s righteousness would be produced in us.” (ISV)

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s get on with this conversation. Ha! I was wondering if I currently don’t have all the “good” things I desire, what is missing or what am I doing wrong? Here is what He showed me.

1. James 4:2-3 says, “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”                                                                           I’d say that one doesn’t need an explanation. Read it over a couple of times and let it sink in. On to the next!

2. What you are asking for is not in His will for you. Now don’t get all freaked out about this one. If it is a clear desire that you can trace back to His Word, and it is not a desire of the enemy, it very well may be His will for you. Ex. You desire the ability to rob a bank. Number one that isn’t a “good” thing and number two “stealing” is the will of the enemy, not your Father. Here’s another example-you desire to have more authentic friendships. Good friendships can be qualified in the Bible through MANY scriptures.  I would say #2 has less to do with being in His will for you, rather more to do with the “expectation” of “how” He’ll manifest His will for you. So let’s say you’re asking for authentic friendships and you’re believing that those friendships MUST come through people you meet during a church service. That may not be His will in terms of the “method” He wants to bring your friends. He may bring them through a mutual friend who attends a completely different church! Be flexible with the “method” He chooses. Don’t be so rigid in your expectation.

3. You are not prepared/positioned to receive what you are asking for. Okay, so this one is where He got me! I’m going to try to explain this as best as I can. A lot of us think we haven’t received certain “good” things because we believe we aren’t worthy, perfectly prepared, deserving, or adequate enough to receive them. That is NOT the case.  (*There are some cases where you may not be operating in the character or knowledge you need to sustain the blessing, but that’s an entirely different message.) Ughh!! I think I need to make a video for all of this.

Let me try again. As a child of God you are already whole, complete, and lacking NOTHING. A seed from a plant is whole, complete, and lacking NOTHING, even though it’s not a full grown tree yet or a beautifully blossomed flower. Within that seed, it has EVERYTHING it needs to fulfill its purpose. For us ladies, think of it like this-when you were a baby you had EVERY single egg that you would ever need to complete menses and have children, yet you were not functioning in that ability yet. Am I coming in clear?

So, what I’m saying is it’s not so much a focus on if you are not prepared/positioned/adequate/deserving because in His PERFECT timing, your capacity evolves to steward what is next. As you grow into the next version of yourself, you attract the “good” things you desire on that level. I hope that makes sense.

Ok, last example. As a toddler, I may have desired to taste honey. Let’s pretend honey is my “good” thing. Is honey bad? No. Is it not in the will of God? No. Am I not adequate enough to receive the honey? No. However, the “timing” and current development of my body is not conducive to me eating honey. In other words, a toddler’s throat and digesting mechanisms have not yet evolved to the point where eating honey is safe and possible. Are the parts present in my body to digest it? Yes. However, as a 2-year-old, the “timing” for those parts to function in that way, has not arrived. There’s a “timing” to your ripening and receiving of certain “good” things. There’s nothing you can do about that timing. It’s preset by your Father who knows EVERYTHING! Trust Him.

4. Lastly, there are other people He has to position “to make all the good things work together for your good” as He says in Romans 8:28. No person is an island. That’s why we are called the “body” of Christ. Just because you think you have all your ducks in a row, doesn’t mean He’s not working on other people to get them in order so that your “good” thing is that much more “good” once you receive it. Be patient my child.

I hope this helps!

His Daughter