The Psalmist reminds us that God is generous. We often act like God is stingy and hard to persuade to give us what we need or desire but the truth is God has always shown himself more willing to bless us than we are to accept the blessings He has promised us. The Psalmist puts it like this: How abundant are the good things that you (GOD) have stored up for those who fear you,…you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. V.21 Praise be to the Lord for He showed me the wonders of his love when I was in a city under siege. In the beginning God made the earth and as he made each aspect he declared: God saw it and it was good. Even human kind was good but when given the freedom to make choices humankind sinned by following their own way and their own happiness instead of following the way of God. God made us and knows best how we need to live in order to be fulfilled. When we usurp our own way in place of his way there can only be one outcome which is destruction. But in the beginning and continually God desires to bless with all he has made more than see it used in judgement. We need to keep this truth in mind in all the circumstances of life and orient our lives to be full of thanksgiving for all God has given us.
The Psalmist talks of feeling like he is sometimes in a city under siege. Being in that condition can make us believe God has forsaken us just as when things are going our way we can feel we deserve God’s favour. Both attitudes ignore the very nature of God who is generous and just in bringing us to face the reality that wickedness will be judged and punishment will be meted out sometimes in natural consequences and sometimes as a result of a sinful world.
Part of being human is to share both blessings and the curse of following our own way. To experience the wholeness of life in both the good times and the times of suffering is all a part of life as we know it. It is only as we experience both that we can grow into mature people.
It is easy for us to understand that God is good and brings blessings (even is we fail to hold on to that truth when we pray) but harder to see the hand of a beneficent God when he allows evil and hurt to penetrate our experience. It is easier to accept that God rescues those trapped in the earthquakes than that he would ever allow earthquakes to be part of the world order. But acknowledging hardships are part of what is necessary to work out our deep experience of life in all its fullness we can still see all the everyday blessings far outnumber the transient and horrible painful experiences that will at some point touch us.
Why does it matter?
How we think of these things leads to what we think of God. The Bible says God is love. It says that is the essence of who God is and of all he does. The world sometimes says God is arbitrary and changeable. If we believe God is love and basically good we can believe as scripture also says in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that God works all things together for Good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
If we focus as the Psalmist does on the belief that God gives in abundance and this promise is not merely past generosity but future generosity to us then in any circumstance we can be hopeful and forward looking and to have such an attitude is a great blessing.