INTERPRETING THE PSALMS

How do we interpret the promised blessings of the Psalms? Some promises sound too good to be true, like:

·       Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have NO LACK! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD LACK NO GOOD THING. (Psalm 34:9-10 ESV)

How can it be that we lack “no good thing?” On many occasions we experience painful “lacks.”  Even those of us who are completely committed to the Lord experience “lacks,” whether in health, food, money, or joy.  Therefore, we wonder if we have missed the boat, or perhaps God’s boat has been equipped with the wrong paddles.

The Bible even promises us that we will have to endure painful trials and refinements. Even this very Psalm admits as much:

·       The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:18-19)

The Psalmist David admits that we will experience great sorrows and depravations. How then are we to understand the promise of verses 9 and 10? For me, this is a very important question. This is because I, all too often, feel “crushed in spirit,” lacking the peace and joy I so desire. And so I ask, “Can I really trust the promises of God, seeing that I do lack the good that He promises?”

I must admit that the Lord has delivered me incredibly, as the Psalms promise, but yet, I experience periods of intense lacking as I wait. How do we reconcile these two opposing realities?

Matthew Henry proposed that to “lack no good thing” should be understood from God’s perspective:

·       As to the things of the other world, they shall have grace sufficient for the support of the spiritual life (2 Corinthians 12:9; Psa. 84:11); and, as to this life, they shall have what is necessary to the support of it from the hand of God: as a Father, he will feed them with food convenient. What further comforts they desire they shall have, as far as Infinite Wisdom sees good, and what they want in one thing shall be made up in another. What God denies them he will give them grace to be content without and then they do not want it.

Henry insisted that God does provide us with only “good things” (Romans 8:28), but “good” according to His estimation, and not ours, based upon what is necessary for us. This includes hardships but also His way of escape from them so that we will be able to endure them (1 Corinthians 10:13). Through this process, we learn that He is our Deliverer and not we ourselves.