Sidetracked By Blessing?

God made very clear the manner in which He desired to bless the nation of Israel in the land He was giving them. And what marvelous blessings they were! It is hard to imagine them doing anything to possibly lose the opportunity for such blessings.

We read…
“(12) And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. (13) He will love you, BLESS YOU, and multiply you. He will also BLESS the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. (14) YOU SHALL BE BLESSED ABOVE ALL PEOPLES. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. (15) And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you.” ( Deuteronomy 7:12-15 ESV)

Wow! Blessings touching about every aspect of life. Even “all sickness” taken away. What a blessing that would be. I thank God I don’t get sick very often, and I can’t even remember the last time I had the flu, but this week it gripped my body and (sparing you the details) felt like a wasting disease. As I think about the nation of Israel, the thing that strikes me is that with such a clear promise why did the people struggle so much with a lack of faithfulness to God? We find this similar blessing pronounced again in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. However, it was made clear that the blessing was contingent on “if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments….” ( Deuteronomy 28:1) The nation was warned amidst their blessings to NOT FORGET THE PROVIDER of them. ( Deuteronomy 8:11-16) Even in verse twelve (of the chapter seven text quoted above) there was a link to listening and keeping the rules of God.

What could cause the forgetting? We read…
“(17) Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘MY POWER AND THE MIGHT OF MY HAND HAVE GOTTEN ME THIS WEALTH.’” ( Deuteronomy 8:17 ESV)

God has not promised us complete freedom from sickness or specific blessings like those listed above in our land. However, the blessings we do receive from God are plenteous and should not be taken for granted. We should still find great comfort in His watchfulness over our lives. Nevertheless, just like Israel, we need to guard against the tendency of looking at our blessed circumstances with a view as if we had attained it all by ourselves. That is one of the downfalls of being so blessed; focusing on enjoying the blessings to the point we FORGET THE BLESSER. Let us never be guilty of FORGETTING THE SOURCE of our greatest blessings for life that are also linked to the Provider of the greatest ones for an eternity with Him. We should always be mindful of thanking Him for them. He is the Provider of “every good and perfect gift.” ( James 1:17) LET US REMEMBER the best way to reveal our sincere appreciation for GOD’S BLESSINGS is to always seek to carry our His Will in our lives.

Have a great day ENJOYING THE BLESSINGS WHILE REMEMBERING THE BLESSER!
Carl

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