No Good Thing Does He Withhold From Those Who Walk Uprightly

"For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

The LORD gives grace and glory;

No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." (Psalm 84:11)

Probably this will be a fairly short article. When it comes to this topic, I think there is much more to digest, meditate on, and pray about than it is to discuss. So, what I'm hoping to do here is give you a fresh perspective (something that I've found really helpful) on a passage that I'm sure you've read many times before, and leave you to think and pray your way through it.

I've always had mixed feelings about the last bit of Psalm 84:11. Speaking about God, the psalmist says, "No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." On the one hand, I love this promise: God does not withhold anything good from those who walk uprightly, that is, from those who fear Him, keep His commandments, and honour Him above all things.

But at the same time, my personal experience often makes me feel like, "Well, really? How about romantic and sexual fulfilment? What about marriage and family? These are good things, aren't they? And yet it seems like God is withholding them from me. So, how can this promise be true, and how can I take hold of it, believe it, and own it with confidence, so that I'm genuinely comforted and encouraged by it, when it looks like I've found at least one good thing that God is keeping from me?"

Then I thought, and it's not just me and my experience of same-sex attraction that throws this text into question. What about godly yet very poor Christians? Can they not say, "Well, food is a good thing, yet we barely have enough to eat. Has the promise of God failed?" Or what about persecuted Christians? Can they not say, "Well, peace is a good thing, yet we don't have any of that. Has the promise of God failed?" Or what about upright yet severely ill Christians? Can they not say, "Well, health is a good thing, yet we are suffering day and night. Has the promise of God failed?"

In fact, as I'm writing this, a very good friend and Christian brother of mine is struggling in all sorts of areas in his life. Particularly with unemployment at the moment. Well, work is a good thing, yet he's been unemployed for months. Has the promise of God failed? I could go on, but I think I've made my point. How can it be true that God does not withhold any good thing from us when it looks like He actually does? And I'm not talking about people who live in sin. I'm talking about people who really do walk uprightly.

What Is Good?

I read Psalm 84 again this morning. That is when I had all these thoughts and decided to write them down. And one question that came to my mind was, "Well, what is good?" If God's word is true, and I believe it is, then there must be a way for this particular promise to remain true even in the face of hunger, persecution, suffering, unemployment, and in my case, same-sex attraction, which means I can't receive God's good gifts of romantic love, marital intimacy, children, grandchildren, etc.

"What is God actually promising here?", I thought. As I was prayerfully considering that, my mind went to one of my favourite passages in the New Testament:

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified." (Romans 8:28-30)

There is an interesting connection here. The good that God promises is clarified and specified by a couple of things. One, the promise is for those who love God. Okay, according to biblical definitions, those who walk uprightly love God. So, while it's reassuring to see links and parallels between the two passages, this wasn't the connection that helped me better understand what "good" means. It was the second one: God causes all things to work together for good to those who are called according to His purpose.

And what is that purpose? It's in verse 29: the purpose is "to become conformed to the image of His Son". So here's my definition of "good" according to Romans 8:28-29; I'm going to put it in different ways:

Good is whatever facilitates God's purpose in you. Good is whatever makes you more like Jesus. Good is whatever sanctifies you. Good is whatever causes you to grow in holiness. Good is whatever nurtures godly character in you. Good is whatever keeps you from becoming corrupted.

So, since God's purpose in giving us His Son was and is to make us holy like Him, anything assisting the progress of that is by definition good, because it brings us closer to our highest good: conformity to God, communion with God, and enjoyment of God.

Now, this doesn't mean that my same-sex attraction, for example, in and of itself is good. It isn't. But it's something that God in His sovereignty and wisdom can use, has used, and continues to use for my good – to make me more like Jesus.

Back to the Psalms

With that in mind, I think Psalm 84:11 makes more sense now. No good thing — that facilitates conformity to Christ — does God withhold from those who walk uprightly. So, if hunger, persecution, suffering, unemployment, or the lack of romantic and sexual fulfilment were to genuinely hinder your progress in sanctification, I believe God would remove these obstacles from your way.

But I have found, along with countless other Christians, that God does His most amazing work of transformation when I am weak, needy, broken, and unfulfilled. If I had to name one thing that God has most used in my life to make me more like Jesus, it would be, without a shadow of a doubt, my struggle with same-sex attraction — followed by other experiences of pain and suffering.

And I'm not saying at all that we shouldn't feed the hungry, help the persecuted, heal the suffering, provide for the unemployed, or walk closely with our same-sex-attracted brothers and sisters – I hope you're not hearing that. What I'm saying is, experiencing these afflictions does not mean that Psalm 84:11 has failed, and God is therefore unreliable. Because He can achieve much good even — and perhaps especially — through our afflictions (Psalm 119:71; Isaiah 48:10).

So, while it remains difficult to live with same-sex attraction, I take great comfort in the fact that God's word has not failed. Psalm 84:11 is true, even in the midst of things that don't feel good at all. Because what's truly good for me is anything that moulds my character more and more into conformity to the image of Christ.

And God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly.