The lions may grow weak and hungry,
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing Psalm 34:10

Lack.no.good.thing. There are so many things in life I feel like I “lack”. Yet I am seeking Him. Then these things I {think} I lack – they aren’t good for me. Wow. When will I trust His goodness? I’m realizing lately that I must ask Him to open my eyes to His version of goodness.

I’m the one who needs a redefining of what good is! My dad always told me: “Are you defining God by what you know of good? Or are you defining good by what you know of God?”

This changes everything about the way I live life and how I seek the Lord. When what I know of Him defines how and what I see as good in my life. Even pain. Hardship. Trials. The things we are commanded to rejoice in. We can’t rejoice in them, if we don’t see or understand them as good in some form.

How do we learn to start viewing the difficult things from out Father’s hand as good? Those things we “lack”? Elisabeth Elliot says the perspective change comes through acceptance – not a resignation, but acceptance as a distilling act of faith. She says:

“The way I respond to the ‘givens’ in my daily life experiences determines the growth in my holiness. When we pray, “give us our daily bread” God answers that prayer, measuring out just what we need for spiritual as well as physical growth. He knows that spiritual stamina cannot develop without conflict. We must take with both hands the things given, submissively, humbly, sometimes courageously, or even, as one friend put it, “definitely” –saying to ourselves “This is part of the story, the story of the love of God for me, and my love for Him. This is acceptance in the truest sense. This is where real peace is found – that strange, inexplicable peace Jesus promised.” Elisabeth Elliot – Loneliness pg 114

Acceptance takes courage. Perspective change takes perseverance and the Holy Spirit. And recognizing goodness takes God. Seek Him and lack nothing – He has given us everything we need for life and godliness. And what we have, right now, in our hand – is good.