"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." (Psalm 84:11)

We were gathered in one of our monthly divisional pastor's meetings. Sometimes the meetings "really rip it up," as my son would say. At other times, they are less than revival. This particular meeting was one of those good ones.

We were at Ed and Ann's church in Fallbrook. I always enjoy it when we go there. You see, Ed and Ann feel just like Bev and I do, they figure that when Pentecostal Pastors gather together, that Pentecostal Pastor stuff should happen. So we pray, and we seek God, and we share our victories and our loses, and we lay hands on one another, and sometimes someone does the stuff - you know, that Book of Acts type of stuff. I love it.

During this meeting, we spent some time worshiping, and sharing things God had been doing in our lives. I usually lead worship at those meetings in Ed and Ann's church. Ed likes the way I jam for Jesus. Sometime during the unordered order of worship and sharing, I told about my encounter with the above verse.

It went something like this:

I was doing my daily reading in the Psalms, and came across Psalm 84:11. I had read it many times before, but it seemed to jump out and grab me on this particular morning.

I noticed something peculiar about the passage. In the first part of the verse, there are two sets of couplets (you know, those quick thoughts with two parts in them). First, it said that God was a sun, and a shield. Secondly, it said that He would give grace, and glory. Now, I would normally have thought of the sun, as being synonymous with glory, and the shield as being synonymous with God's protecting grace, but the sun was the first part of the first couplet, and glory was the second part of the second couplet. Otherwise, this meant that sun must go with grace, and shield must go with the word glory.

As I meditated upon the strange arrangement of this passage, I realized that just as the sun shines upon the earth giving warmth, and growth to all things living, so God's grace shone down upon us giving warmth, and growth. Likewise, as a shield brings protection in the day of battle, so the Lord is our protection in the battles of life, and ministry, and this protection makes room for us to step forward into victory.

After chewing upon this verse for awhile, I also noticed that it said "he will give grace and glory...," and that he would withhold "no good thing...." These two blessings, grace and glory, encompass the totality of "good thing[s]" God gives to men.

When I realized what it was saying, I yelled at God.

You see, I feel like there has been lots of grace to get me through the tough times of ministry, but I shouted at the Lord during my meditations, "Where's the glory? I could use a little glory down here, you know!"

The other pastors all laughed. They've been there. They've done that. How about you? Been there? Done that?

Have you been shouting for glory as well? Have you been looking for a little victory in your life, and in your ministry?

Well, if so, I have one thing to say to you - keep shouting. It's good for you.

Your shout is evidence of your hunger for more of God's blessing, and we know that, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6)

If that shouting ever stops, you just might be in a heap of trouble.