Every Good Thing

April 14

David was a man who understood exactly WHO was the source of all his blessings. The sweet psalmist had risen from obscurity to kingship. Although he began his life as the son of a wealthy man, he realized at an early age that if he were to succeed, he needed the Lord.

When he tended his father’s sheep, he had slain lions—and he was fully aware that this was not the kind of feat a shepherd boy could accomplish on his own. When he confronted the taunting Philistine giant Goliath whose physical presence engulfed the child-warrior, David knew the Lord would give him the ability to slay the terrifying foe who mocked the living God David served (I Samuel 17:45-51).

In Psalm 16:2 the Song-smith of Israel who God made king extolled his King with these words, “You are my Lord; apart from You, I have no good thing.” David knew that the inheritance he would have received from his father would not have equaled that of his older brothers; he knew he would have had a good but inconsequential life apart from the hand of God upon him.

How about us? How about you? How good would life be for us if the hand of God were removed, if the covering of His protection were gone, if the abundance of His provision were withdrawn? Do we have the insight to see as clearly as David did that every good thing, that every perfect gift—from temporal blessings to eternal salvation—flows from the heart of Jesus who died to give us all things?