David Platt

A great preacher you might want to check out...

http://www.brookhills.org/media/page_audio_main.htm

Can God Bless Me?

Perhaps you have asked yourself the following questions: "Can God bless me when I’m in this terrible situation?", "Can God bless me when I am such a miserable sinner?", and “Can God bless me when I face such strong opposition?" The answer to all these questions is an absolute "yes!" but first you need to understand that God doesn’t bless us because we deserve it but because he is gracious. Some people seem to think that God’s blessings are earned and therefore they try and to obtain his blessings through their own efforts.

Some seek to obtain God’s blessings by traveling on pilgrimages to distant lands and performing religious rituals. Some seek to obtain God’s blessings by repeating a certain prayer. You have probably seen articles in the classified section of the newspaper inferring that if you repeat a certain prayer in a certain way for a certain amount of time you will be blessed by God. Others attempt to possess God’s blessings by sacrificial giving, enduring long hours of prayer, lengthy fasts or living in near perfect obedience. During my early years in the church, it was clearly inferred that the most anointed and blessed people were those who were extremely dedicated and who spent much time on their knees, going without food, and were exceptionally holy. The concern I have with all of these ideas is that they all are man-centered and make the blessings of God dependent on our efforts rather than God’s grace.

God, in his grace, blesses his people despite the situation, despite their sins, and despite opposition.

Being one of God’s people does not exempt you from the problems that the rest of the world faces. This is a principle I often repeat because Christians often grow discouraged when they encounter serious problems, not because the problems themselves are overwhelming but because they expected a mostly trouble-free life. Failure to realize that problems come along with being a Christian often makes the problems all the more difficult. Former Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis, once said his frustrated, impatient daughter, "My dear, if you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you."

People often believe in their hearts that God blesses those who deserve it and those who sin don’t deserve it. This and many other passages of Scripture show us that this belief is often wrong. God doesn’t bless us because we deserve it but because of his love, mercy, and grace. Under the law we would be treated as our sins deserve (Leviticus 26:21) but under grace "He does not treat us as our sins deserve. . ." (Psalm 103:10)

It is good to know that even though you and I will fail and fall short, God in his mercy blesses us anyways! In this case God blessed Isaac with material gain, even providing a multitude of corn in a time a famine, and he may bless us with material gain also. We must keep in mind though, that the New Testament emphasizes that our blessings in Christ are primarily spiritual. (Ephesians 1:3) Things like God’s presence, his joy, his peace, guidance, mercy, etc. are given to us despite are many faults. Isn’t God good!

Country singer Paul Overstreet wrote a song about this from a story in Genesis 26, which contains an important lesson for us. In this song Isaac is renamed Ike. Listen to the lyrics:

Ike had a blessing from the Lord of the above,

gave him a beautiful woman to love,a place to live,

some land to farm,

two good legs and two good arms.

The Devil came sneaking around one night,

decided he would do a little evil to Ike.

figured he hit ole Ike where it hurts

so he filled up all Ike’s wells with dirt

Ike went out to get his morning drink,

got a dip full of dirt and his heart did sink

He knew it was the Devil so he said with a grin

God blessed me once, he can do it again

So when the rains don’t fall, and the crops all fail,

and the cow ain’t putting any milk in the pail,

don’t sit around waiting for a check in the mail,

just pick up your shovel and dig another well,

pick up your shovel and dig another well.

You are going to face repeated opposition to God’s blessings in your life. You have a choice when you do, you can sit around and moan about how unfair it all is and how life is ruined for you or you could pick up your shovel and did another well saying, "he blessed me once and he can do it again." Keep digging those wells...

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