8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
9 O fear the Lord, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man who desires life
And loves length of days that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
And His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are [d]crushed in spirit.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all.
20 He keeps all his bones,
Not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous will be [e]condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who take refuge in Him will be [f]condemned.
After the struggles of Job, and even those of David himself, we get to a passage like this. And at first, it has one thinking, “Huh? Is life supposed to be easy for the righteous? And if so, what am I doing wrong??” Yet even in verse 19, David reminds us “many are the afflictions of the righteous…” So let’s back up a bit and see what we find.
We are first reminded that God is good, then for those that seek the Lord, they “shall not be in want of any good thing.” And this is really key to the rest of the psalm. Does that mean God will give me all the money I want? Or maybe all the chocolate, or all the lasagna I could possibly eat? I think you can see the problem, as none of that would be good for us.
God is not just a good father, He is a perfect father. God knows what we need, and He knows what is actually good for us. Sometimes, that’s a little extra money to make ends meet. Other times, it’s a lot more money to give and/or to meet a need that we never knew was coming. Often, it is a trial or test that helps us grow in our walk with Him, that challenges us in exactly the way we need, or that shows us a shortfall which we need his help to overcome.
Ultimately, when we “take refuge in Him”, God will keep us through that trial, however fiery it might be. He “keeps all our bones”, which is to say, we are secure in His hands, and nothing or no one can condemn those who trust God with their lives. When we cry out to Him, he hears us, every day, all the time. His perfect love will keep us through the storm, so let His peace surround you in every moment of your life.