23 If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; 24 though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. 25 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. 26 They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.

Perhaps in the society of Israel in the time of David it was easier to determine who actually belonged to God and who were his enemies. The national boundary pretty much determined the issue. Today, with God’s people all over the world and in every nation it sometimes is not nearly so obvious. What has not changed from then until now is that God still takes care of his own. God, as a loving father, allows us to make our own choices but gives us guidance and advice along the way. He warns us of impending dangers and guards us against many foes. Another strong similarity from then and now is that most of us ignore him and go our own way. Then when we end up in trouble we cry out for his help and deliverance. How much better it would be if we would listen to his word and follow his will for our lives. After all, he made us and knows what is best for us.

David, as an old man wrote these words. He had never seen a righteous man who had been forsaken by God. While God has never promised to give us an abundance of things or to make us wealthy (in spite of what some of the TV evangelist say), he has promised that he will provide all our needs. In fact, it may often be because he knows what is best that we do not get all the things we think we need or want. The wise man said the more we get the more we will want. There is no end to accumulating wealth or things. What starts out as a legitimate desire can quickly turn into greed and selfishness. This is not an easy concept to accept in the materialistic society in which we live. It seems that we are measured more by our things than by what we are.

This is where real faith comes into play. We must never allow our society to influence us into trusting in our possessions instead of trusting in God. Jesus once said that a person’s life does not consist of his things, even if he has great wealth. The only thing that really matters is whether we are submitting to God and to his will for our lives. It is only then that we will use all that we have and all that we are to glorify God as supreme.

O God, please increase my faith so that I will depend on you for all things. I know that you will always do what is best and only give me what is best when I trust you. Help me to not be greedy but to share with others and to use what I have to bring glory to your name. Give me wisdom to use the opportunities you afford to help others. Forgive my weakness when I fail. I pray in the name of Jesus. May God bless each of us today.