You'll just have to come up with your own caption for this one. I'm laughing too hard. But I keep remembering that scene from Dumb and Dumber where Harry has to run to the bathroom.
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For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does He withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you! --Psalm 84:11,12
This is one of those "tough times" verses. It's the kind of thing you need to hear when all is dark and it seems like everything and everyone is against you. Sun and shield; light and protection.
One commentary I read says this, which I like:
"This is the person who finds God to be a sun and shield (He gives the light of life and protection), upon whom the Lord bestows favor and honor (such a person will not trust in these or turn them into a source of pride). Those who walk uprightly are those whose faith is genuine, which leads to a life that aims at doing God's will; no good thing does God withhold from them, because they are living in His light."
Living in His light. "Turning on the light," as Grand High Potentate Fowler puts it, is the moment of revelation when we see and face the things we've been hiding from and running from. Those things that we have been denying are there because we're afraid of them. Or we lack the courage to take the necessary steps to get rid of them. What happens after the light is on? That can't be the end, or we'd be right back in the dark very quickly.
So we turn on the light. Then we live in the light. We live transparently. Our lives should be a reflection of Him, anyway, so when we live our lives transparently, no one sees us. They see God. We walk uprightly, which means blameless, whole and complete in Hebrew. I don't know about you but whole and complete are pretty appealing to me.
And God withholds nothing good from them. What God deems good is much, much better than anything good I can think of. And believe me, I can think of some pretty good goods. But He pours it out on the upright, and bestows favor and honor. Those are two things that the world can never, ever give us.
But where it starts is where this passage ends. It "opens at the close," (Golden Snitch reference of the day). Sorry. (Back on track, Carver)
The one who trusts in the Lord is blessed. It begins with trusting Him. It begins with surrender, with dying. Just as it was with Jesus, and as it is with salvation, and all things in our walk with God, real life begins with death.
Happy Wednesday, vous du beau monde!
Oh! I almost forgot. The title is "The Lord God is a sun and shield" in Greek. You people really don't know how smart I am.
Oh! I almost forgot. The title is "The Lord God is a sun and shield" in Greek. You people really don't know how smart I am.
