Every good thing
Bible Reading: Psalm 34:4-10
Author: Pam Manners (New Jersey, US)
Author: Pam Manners (New Jersey, US)
Saturday 2 May 2026 © The Upper Room.
Over the years, my neighbourhood has become home to a rather large stray-cat population. Several of us within the community provide clean drinking water and fresh food for these cats daily so they’re well fed and not tearing apart everyone’s rubbish bags in search of a meal.
It has worked well, with the exception of one cat we call Smokey. Though I’ve seen Smokey eating from various food bowls often enough, he continues to tear through rubbish bags and to drink dirty water from gutters and puddles.
Once, in frustration, as I caught him feasting from a neighbour’s rubbish, I yelled out, ‘Smokey! Why are you messing with that when I’ve got something so much better for you here?’ Not long afterward, I wondered to myself how many times God has asked me that very same question.
God has so much better to offer us – the best there is! In Psalm 34:8, we’re invited to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’. Yet for various reasons we keep picking through life’s rubbish. Maybe it’s time to leave that where it belongs and joyfully come to the table where God has every good thing waiting for us.
Prayer: Faithful God, help us joyfully to receive every good thing you have prepared for us. Amen
