Thoughts On Psalm 84:11

Psalm 84:11

For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Two things struck me this morning as I was reading this passage;

1.    First, the sun is the ultimate source of everything on this planet, well apart from God Himself. Consider;

a.    the sun provides the energy photons that interact with the chlorophyll in plant cells that causes the photosynthesis process to occur. This process makes organic compounds that are used to grow the plants that are then eaten by us and other animals.

b.    And, this process renews the oxygen in the air and removes carbon dioxide.

c.    In addition to this the energy of the sun also runs the water cycle. Without the sun’s heat water would not evaporate and then not rain back down on us. Without an operating water cycle the earth would very quickly become a parched dry and barren place and all water would be gathered together into the oceans, salty and undrinkable.

So the sun is the source of the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink.

However, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Which brings us to the the second point.

2.    A shield is a protection, it could be a traditional shield that protects us from harm from the attacks of others or it could be something as simple as an umbrella being used to shield or protect us from the harmful effects of the sun.

In Psalm 84:11 God is described as both a sun and a shield. As the Creator of the sun He is the ultimate source of life, He maintains every second of our lives and without Him we would immediately perish. However, in our sinful state we cannot exist in His presence, we would be destroyed so he also shields us from Himself, by placing a ‘veil’ around us to protect us from His sin destroying nature.

Then from His grace He provided Jesus, a way back through the veil into His presence that won’t destroy us, that will in fact recreate us into God’s character, or His Glory. Which just goes to prove the rest of the verse, He has not withheld His own Son from us, so He’s not going to withhold any other good thing either.