A Generous God
Our kids have wanted a dog for a long time. The timing never felt convenient; our house was never big enough. And truthfully, I didn’t want a dog. I’ve never been a dog person, and it just felt like too much of a burden.
But recently, a series of events led us to suddenly start considering getting a puppy for our kids. I knew the kids would be thrilled—and that was the only reason I was even thinking about it. The joy of making a dream come true for people I love is no small thing. I felt an inexplicable peace about it, even as I worried about all the extra responsibility it involved. As my husband and I prayed and talked about the decision, I felt God whisper to my heart that this decision to get a puppy for our kids would mirror his extravagantly generous heart toward us.
And that hit hard. I know what it is to long for something that feels out of my reach, just as my kids longed for a dog. I imagined the joy I would feel in surprising them with the answer to their desires. And this joy would mirror God’s even greater joy in giving to his children and doing “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20 NIV).
God is a good father, and he delights in giving good gifts to us, his children (see Matt. 7:11; John 15:7; James 1:17). He doesn’t give us gifts because we deserve them—because we’ve worked hard enough or been good enough. He gives us good gifts simply because he loves us, because he thrills to see our joy in receiving them.
He even invites us to ask for and seek out his gifts: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt. 7:7–8 NIV).
Some of us need this reminder, because life comes with lots of disappointments. And sometimes it’s easy to start feeling like maybe God doesn’t want to give us gifts or that we have to earn his gifts through good behavior. Those lies will push us into one of two places: disillusionment, where all we can see is what we don’t have, or religious striving, where we start acting like servants instead of children. Neither of those places reflects God’s heart toward us.
So why don’t we always see God’s blessings when we need them? Why do we sometimes ask without receiving? Why does it sometimes seem like God withholds gifts?
I don’t know.
I do know the answer is complex. Maybe it’s about timing or what’s best for us. Maybe what we want wouldn’t be as good for us as we think. Maybe the enemy or our own poor choices have kept us from receiving what God wants to give. What I do know is that God is a good father who delights to give good gifts to his children.
We can trust in that. We can trust him with the unknowns.
And when we do, we position ourselves to receive. We position ourselves as children who know we are loved, who aren’t trying to earn anything, and who are deeply grateful for our father’s presence and goodness in our lives.
In Psalm 37:4, the psalmist tells us, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (NIV). Think about the picture here—a person delighting in God while still having unfulfilled desires. The delight comes first. That’s what faith looks like. That’s what God is inviting us into. We get to be the people who still have desires that we are hoping and praying for—and yet who still choose to delight in God and his goodness in advance of his provision.
Too often, we focus on what we desire without remembering to delight in our father’s love, which is the greatest gift of all. Today, let’s remember God’s generosity toward us, and let’s celebrate the gifts he’s already given us—and the gifts yet to come.
And yes, we did get that puppy.
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