Dare I Reject a Blessing?
Each day the Lord blesses His children in unique ways. But do we always see the blessing when they come disguised as trials? Counting our blessings is more than positive thinking. It’s recognizing God pouring out His grace every moment, regardless of how it looks or feels.
We all entered this world as sinners, recipients of the curse. But when the fullness of His grace came in the form of Jesus Christ – God incarnate – we are now recipients of all the blessings that are ours in Christ.
Sometimes the fullness of grace pours out tangible blessings that bring great joy and satisfaction. God is the Giver of every good and perfect gift. (James 1:17) It’s easy to give thanks for those blessings. So what about when we don’t see the tangible blessings? Has God removed His hand of blessing upon us? James 1:17 goes on to say there’s no variation or shadow of turning. He is our unchanging God. The fullness of grace continues to flow over the Child of God.
Trials come…we lose a loved one, our job, our health, and suddenly we think we’re being cursed rather than blessed. That’s when we need to dip – no IMMERSE ourselves – into the reservoir of His Word we have stored in the recesses of our memory.
“”This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD’S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in Him. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. “ Lamentations 3:21-25
My husband and I are going through a “crisis” right now. A week ago today he lost his job unexpectedly. During the initial shock, those first 24 hours, verses we’d memorized over the years flooded our souls and brought a tremendous sense of peace. Over the past week, through the fullness of His grace, we experienced blessings we wouldn’t trade for anything. We’ve experienced the blessing of the nearness of God Himself (Psalm 73:28). When we doubted which way to go, the Spirit of God reminded us of Psalm 16:11 – “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”
We decided we each would daily write out a blessing and put it into our blessing jar. The day after he lost his job he wrote, “The sun came up this morning. God is sovereign.” Our unchanging God is still filling us to overflowing with blessings….no shadow of turning. Just because it wasn’t something we could hold in our hands, it was still something we could count as a blessing. His blessings flow from the fullness of His grace in ways that bless us every moment of every day. We need only to look around us.
Lord, Dare I reject a blessing from you just because it isn’t in the shape, size, or color I want, or fit into my perfect little world box? I would be a most miserable soul indeed if I did not receive all You have for me with thanks, for this is Your will concerning me. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) I humbly thank You for the blessings You are pouring upon me from the fullness of Your grace.
Your humbly grateful daughter,
Marsha
You are right, Marsha; even if it does not feel right at the time, we know that His mercy and grace will see us through the rough times. As we count our daily blessings, we see that His faithfulness is all around us.
Marsha, I hope I will always recognize the Blessings from God, even though at the time they may seem like anything but a blessing, thank you for the wonderful post. it really touched my heart, blessings Gloria
What a wonderful post!!! This has been a point in a few readings and sermons lately. It was brought to mind by someone recently that all of these things that happen; there is so much more to them and their purpose for our live than that one little thing. A greater picture. All a part of His great plan. We simply must praise Him and continue to walk trusting Him <3