Beyond Blessings
Something rather amusing and concerning that I have observed over time is how we selectively read the bible. Stay with me..
Let’s start from the beginning. We sing about how “Abraham’s blessings are mine” and we pray those blessings over ourselves and expect them to materialize as hoped for. Stop and consider how Abraham had to leave his father’s house to follow a God he’d heard about. I mean, the father of faith who was promised to be the father of all nations, didn’t have a child at 100 years, with a 90 year old wife. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting the blessings, it just seems rather anticlimactic to skip the journey don’t you think?
Us ladies, we’re so quick to pray for our Boaz because Ruth was so lucky, she married a prosperous man who loved her and would take care of her. Have you ever pondered the fact that Ruth was a widow who had lost her husband early in life and had chosen to return in penury with her mother-in-law to a strange land? Her journey brought her the blessings.
Hi queens! Esther’s of our generation! She was a child, or let’s say teenager, in a land of captivity. Her uncles ward so it’s safe to assume that her nuclear family were dead. Esther was selected to marry this Babylonian king, something that went against all that she knew and had been taught, and she had to hide her identity to “fit in”. Then she had to stand in the gap on behalf of her people, bearing a risk of death.
Should I go on?
Joseph the dreamer! He had all those dreams, they were a sure thing, I mean, they came from God right?! Sold into slavery by his own brothers, tossed back and forth prison because why not. The blessings required him to build the land of the gentiles while his people suffered famine.
Or do you realize how long it took Noah to build the ark? How stupid he must have looked? How much self doubt he must have nursed? Talk less of going to gather animals 2 by 2, do you know what a female ant looks like?! So the rains came and God’s word came to pass, how long do you think you’d last on the ark before you start complaining? Then imagine returning to a world without people…
Check out Daniel and the 3 Hebrew boys, everyone’s favorite Bible characters. So intelligent and disciplined, hmmm. Fiery furnace, lions den… all come together to make the blessedness we see and desire.
Should we talk about Jesus, the Saviour of the whole world, crucified on a cross? Or His disciples- Paul, Stephen… I think you get it so I will stop.
God is good, regardless of us and our simple minds. His words are yeah and amen, so those promises stand and He’s faithful to keep them.
Let’s remember though, that His thought towards us are good and even when it doesn’t look like it He’s actively working things out for our good. Like we see with every story in the Bible.
The major point I’m trying to pass across is that we shouldn’t be fair weather Christians, there’s time for everything- good and bad, seed time and harvest, hills and valleys… look beyond the blessings, God is good in all the seasons. So be faithful and put your hopes in Him.
Happy February!!!
