The Honest Cook

“So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.” (Ps 78:72 AV)

God is a kind, merciful, and benevolent God. But He is also a God with perfect integrity.  His emotional response to our genuine needs is governed by His integrity.  The context of this statement is the history of Israel’s wilderness wanderings following the exodus from Egypt.  Asaph records the successes and failures of the nation.  He recalls the hand of God to protect, guide, provide, and even chasten when necessary the people as they wander for 40 years in the deserts of Sinai.  All through this experience, God meets with this nation according to the integrity of His heart.  They may not have always gotten what they wanted.  But they did get what they needed.

I have a very wise father who did the best job he could in raising his children.  He may not have been a perfect father, but then again, none of us are.  When it came to providing things that we needed rather than what we wanted, he excelled.  It wasn’t the material things that he struggled to provide.  We grew up poorer than some, but a little better than others.  We did not starve.  That’s for sure.  Yet it wasn’t the food on the table or the clothes on our backs that were the most important things he provided.

He provided character and integrity.  He provided experiences, mostly around the outdoors, that enriched us more than a trip to a popular vacation getaway.  He taught us how to survive in the woods if needed.  He taught us to work for what we wanted rather than to always have it given to us.  He taught us that reading and studying are a passion.  But the biggest lesson he ever taught me was that principles are worth standing for.

God may not always give us what we want.  But He always gives us what we need.  That requires integrity.  When your children cry out as though they are hurting in a deep way because of something they think they need, it takes integrity to say ‘no’.  It takes integrity to allow your child to suffer so that he might learn inner character that he can learn no other way.  It takes integrity to risk a relationship when your child throws a temper tantrum.  But God can do no other.  We are not cheated.  We are not abused.  We are not mistreated.  We are cared for by a God who has integrity!