My Father Loves Giving GOOD Gifts

Bible Reading

• Matthew 7
• Psalm 119:121-144

Devotional Thoughts

As a father, and now as a grandpa, it’s so much fun to give gifts to our kids and grandkids. On our most recent trip, we bought very little for ourselves, but everywhere we went, we saw things that we thought would be so fun to buy and give as gifts to our kids and grandkids. I wonder if that’s how God feels about us?

In Matthew 7:11 Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” God longed for his people to have the very best. Remember what God said about his creation right before he created man? “God saw that it was good.” (Gen 1:21) God had prepared a world, and particularly a garden, specifically for man, with everything man needed and more.

(Gen 2:15) Then God created man, took him and put him in the garden He had made for them. Then, the icing on the cake was God giving man a wife. (Gen 2:18)

God loves to give gifts to his kids, even more than I do to my kids. James 1:17 tells us that “Every good gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who never changes.” Romans 8:32 tells us, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things.”

Unfortunately, we don’t always recognize God’s gifts, nor believe that what he is doing is actually for our good. The same God who created this earth, and created the garden of Eden specifically for man to not just survive, but to thrive, and who gave His own son to die in our place, is still doing the same today!  

Rom 8:32 comes just after the verse we all know ; Rom 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…” Interesting isn’t it, that the “all things” for Jesus meant dying on the cross. But, the good God was working was “giving us all things!” (Eternal Life, the life of Jesus indwelling us, freedom from the power of sin, etc) 

Declarations

• What God does is ALWAYS good! Even if it doesn’t feel like it, it is a gift from God for my good. (Jer 29:11, Rom 8:28)
• Just like children learn to trust their parents, I need to learn to trust God and believe He loves me, that He knows what’s best (omniscient) and that He is able to, and always does, what is best for me (omnipotent).