Nothing Good Withheld

I don’t have much to say. I think this is a pretty good place to be, but there’s one thought that’s been with me for a couple days now since Chad said it in his sermon on Sunday. It’s a very simple thought; one that comes straight from Scripture. But as with most simple truths presented in the Bible, the implications are staggering. Take for instance the simple truth of “Christ died for my sins,” and then ask yourself what is true because Christ died for your sins. The complete answer to that question could take a lifetime to answer. The thought that has been with me most recently though is only this: “God does not withhold anything good.”

I have a hard time believing this. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I can think of a long list of things I would call “good” that I don’t have right now. It would appear to me, therefore, that God has withheld a great number of good things from me. Does then the Bible lie, when it says in Psalm 84, “No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly,” or is the issue that I have not been walking uprightly? That sounds rather dangerously and blatantly like legalism, as though I can earn God’s favor and blessing through my good works, which is simply not true. This is not to say that following God’s commands does not have its reward; certainly Christ teaches that we will have rewards in heaven for our acts of selfless service, and even the Law promises the more temporal reward of long, prosperous life for following the command of honoring one’s father and mother. But I do not think that these are the implications of this verse or this truth.

I believe the problem lies within my definition of good. Does my list of “good” things match God’s list of “good” things? I am no Bible scholar, but as far as I can tell, the most common noun described as “good” in the Bible is God himself. Has God withheld Himself from me? Quite the contrary. God has taken drastic measures, primarily through the sacrifice of His own Son, to enter into fellowship with me, or essentially to give Himself to me. The best thing you or I will ever have or get is God himself, which we have already obtained if we have placed our faith in His Son’s redeeming work. But the truth is that God does not withhold anything good, not just that He doesn’t withhold the best good.

I submit that we could theoretically replace the phrase “anything good” with “Himself” and say simply that “God does not withhold Himself.” This adds another implication: that in fact nothing is good except God Himself. This perhaps sounds a little extreme, and you might argue that God Himself calls other things good, and you would be right. All over the account of creation in Genesis, God calls His creation good. Why, though, is creation good? Because it reflects and displays the glory of God. Creation in and of itself is not good. Creation is good because the Creator who created it is good and it can serve to show us this.

Isn’t going to church good? It is if it points you toward God and causes you to know Him more. Knowing God more is like getting more of God. As we learn about God, we are receiving goodness. “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good” (Psalm 73:28). Isn’t biblical fellowship good? Isn’t friendship good? It is if it points you toward God and causes you to know Him more. What is good except that which serves this highest calling?

Compare your list of what is good to God’s list of what is good. God’s list is short: God; and the implication: anything which serves to draw us to God and causes us to know Him more. Truly, God does not withhold anything good, because God does not withhold Himself from us.