Ps. 34:10
The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Why do young lions suffer want and hunger? Mostly it is because they have not yet been taught how to hunt and survive. Crudely, they haven't learned how to find what is good. They can't find food on their own. As a matter of fact, they are prey to older lions until they are old enough to fend for themselves. So, why the contrast in Scripture between young lions and those who seek the Lord? I think it is because we are not left along to struggle in the elements of this world. We are given a God who not only protects and provides, but does them in abundance.
The Sunday school class we are a part of here in the States has been a wonderful encouragement to Brad and I. One of the questions that some of them are asking is that why do we always say "God has really blessed America by making it prosperous and self-sufficient"? One of the guys in the class has been processing the fact that maybe all the financial wealth here could indeed be a curse. When he brought this up for the first time, most people physically shirked in their seats. But, I look at my life. When I feel self-sufficient and not in lack of many things, my affections wane for the Lord. The point this guy was making is that when we can provide for ourselves most things, why do we need to seek out Lord?
And, we also have to redefine what the phrase "lack no good thing" means. For Christ, the cross was a painfully, tragic, 'good thing'. For Stephen, being stoned in the courtyard was a 'good thing'. I have had to try and recalibrate my definition of good thing. When I define it in terms of my own comfort, I grow bitter. I grow bitter because right now, our family is not at a comfortable place. We are tired and overwhelmed. If my gauge would be shifted to seeing this time as a 'good thing', lacking nothing that the Lord didn't give me, then I would fully embrace verses like Psalm 34:1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth."
But honestly, apart from the Lord changing my desires and granting me a peace that is beyond all understanding, it will be impossible. I am imploring Him daily to melt my desires into the shadows of the cross.
