“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).  

I sit and I stare.  I look up all the related verses.  I read what the commentators have to say.  In this singular verse is pretty much all a man needs to know.  

“The Lord God is a sun.”  That is to say, He provides light; He is Light.  There is no darkness with God.  All He is and does is as far from dark as you can get–infinitely distanced from all that is considered to be darkness.  He shines brightly upon those who are His, who have come under His glorious sunshine. He is the “sun of righteousness” (Malachi 4:2).  In His light we see light (Psalm 36:9).  He is our light and our salvation (Psalm 27:1).  We are instructed to arise and shine ourselves, for our Light has come (Isaiah 60:1).  Though darkness covers the earth, and deep darkness the peoples, the Lord always rises upon His people.  Though clouds may fill the sky, even dark clouds of gloom and doom, yet upon His chosen beams of bright light shine down upon His godly ones.  

“The Lord God is a shield.”  God spoke to Abraham our father and said, “I am a shield to you” (Genesis 15:1).  What He was to Abraham, He is to us; as through Jesus Christ the blessing of Abraham belongs to we his children through faith.  Psalm 91 reads, “His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”  Wherefore?  He delivers us from the “snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.”  Who among men can provide us with better protection than God Himself?  Paul speaks of the shield faith.  This is not less than the belief that the Lord God is our shield.  We trust Him to protect us from the “flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16)–even extinguishing them as they hit this shield who is the Lord.  Because we trust Him so, we will “not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day; or of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.”  Because we “have made the Lord, even the Most High, (our) dwelling place (behind the shield that He is), no evil will befall us, nor will any plagues come near our tent” (Psalm 91:5-6, 9-10).  

“The Lord gives grace.”  Of this Matthew Henry writes, “What is grace, but heaven begun below, in the knowledge, love, and service of God?”  Meaning, grace is a taste of heaven on earth.  Under the New Covenant, we who are of Jesus Christ have had this grace “lavished upon us.”  We have found out that God’s grace is “sufficient for us.”  We are taught that God is able to “make all grace abound to us, that always having all we need, we may have an abundance for every good deed.”  Not only in the here and now do we receive grace for salvation, but it (God’s grace) will be ours to enjoy in the ages to come–and there are ages to come.  And what, pray tell, is grace?  It has been defined in so many ways, but the chief meaning is God’s undeserved favor.  He has caused His face to shine upon us, and when God looks at you you can well be assured that all His love, all His goodness, all His power is all yours to have and enjoy.

“The Lord gives us glory.”  When I think of glory, I think of God’s presence.  “His glory filled the temple.”  I think of God’s people, concerning whom Paul writes that God’s glory is in His saints (Ephesians 1:18).  And Henry says, “What is glory, but the completion of this happiness, in being made like to him, and in fully enjoying him for ever?”  So it is that the glory of God is the presence of God inside every believer by reason of the Holy Spirit in them.  When we look upon a fellow Christian, there we see God’s glory.  And oh for the tangible presence of God–there is not a better feeling this side of heaven.  Indeed, it is heaven’s atmosphere given us to taste upon earth.  And for sure, God’s glory is the glory and majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:22).  Meaning, what Jesus Christ has by way of glory, we have right now.  “As He is so are we in this world.”  The glory of God is upon us, saints.  God gives it, and it is glorious!

“No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”  And what is the catchword here? “Uprightly.”  This promise is for those “who walk uprightly.”  Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary helps us understand the meaning of this:

When yashar (the Hebrew word) pertains to people, it is best translated “just” or “upright.” God is the standard of uprightness for His people: “Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way” (Ps. 25:8). His word (Ps. 33:4), judgments (Ps. 19:9), and ways (Hos. 14:9) reveal His uprightness and are a blessing to His people. The believer follows Him in being “upright” in heart: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (Ps. 32:11; cf. 7:10; 11:2). In their daily walk they manifest that they are walking on the narrow road: “The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation” (Ps. 37:14). The “just” are promised God’s blessing upon their lives (Prov. 11:10-11).

To summarize, we live and walk in a way that pleases God–i.e., by faith–and that is modeled after the Lord Himself and His holy word.  We are men and women of integrity.  We so order our lives so as to conform to God’s will and ways.  We keep our hearts; we stay on the straight and narrow, fixing our eyes on Jesus.  We keep the commandments of the Lord, remaining humble before Him.  

The outcome?  God does not withhold anything good from us.  He supplies both our needs and wants–assuming they are good, that is; God does not give us what is harmful to us, the bad things; of this we can be confident. He is sovereign and has our best interests at heart.  

In this one verse, then, is pretty much all we need–indeed, all we need!  God is our light.  God is our shield.  God gives us grace.  He gives us glory.  He does not withhold a thing from us that He considers good.