Tag: blessings

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Numbers 8-10 Order out of Chaos

The Lord God gave Moses instructions on how to bring this camp of Israelites into a camp with order. They were a camp of chaos running here and there and causing harm and disobeying the commands of the Lord and Moses. God used this section to remind us that He is the one who brings order and He has selected men to guide in that direction. And so God directed Moses on how to do this and when. It is comforting to read this section when we see it happening even now in our own country. There has been chaos for over four years and even now we see those disrupters on the scene just as it was in the day of Moses. Remember this: God is a God of order not chaos. 

God’s instructions to the church are this: “1Co 14:40 And do everything in a decent and orderly manner.” Isaiah wrote: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” [Is 28:10] That is how God governs and we should do the same. 

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Genesis 47 God’s Grace

God is sufficient

racInterestingly as we follow God’s leading, we see His hand on His people to bless them. Joseph was faithful and God blessed him in many ways. God never wastes our trials but uses them to bring prosperity to us and others around us just as He did with Pharaoh through Joseph. 

Years before Abraham went to Egypt in a time of famine but it was there that he lied and was escorted from there ..in haste. Now God uses another famine to bring blessing to Pharaoh and his court because Joseph was faithful.  Jacob now can receive this blessing because of his son’s faithfulness even though it had been years and years! Jacob, for once, has been truthful about his life. It is almost as if he has finally recognized that his sin of deceit has been revealed and he is humbled. 

How often does God reveal to us our sin so we can be a recipient of His grace? Lesson, keep your account short before God. Humble yourself before God and He will bring His blessing to you. 

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Count Your Blessings

Count blessings

Matt 13 Blessings

We sing Count Your Blessings, name them one by one and you will see what God has done. The disciples asked Jesus why he taught in Parables and he answered: “But your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears because they hear.” Stop and consider this: your eyes are blessed. You see what the world denies. So what blessings do your eyes see today?  You see the beauty of the growing plants, the sky with its changes moment by moment. What do your ears hear? The birds are singing in my backyard and I hear them. I also hear the words of kindness and the words of those who speak the Word from the pulpit. I hear the sounds of my family as my head prays for me and a friend prays for me. 

Truly we should stop and count our blessings! What blessing can you name today and give God thanks for those! 

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Blessings

Count blessings

Psalm 65 “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts.” [Ps 65:4] We use the word blessing so casually but the psalmist rightly points us to the truth of this word: it is God that blesses and He blesses those whom He has chosen. In the NT we read that we were chosen from the foundation of the world. Stop and consider the word chosen. That means that God specifically took time to observe and wisely choose those upon whom He would place His favor. Note too that God not only chooses but places them near to Him so that they can dwell within His court. One day we shall stand before His judgment seat and will we hear well done thou good and faithful servant or I never knew you. 

Where will you and I stand? What will we hear? Take time today to ponder this thought: you were chosen before the foundation of the world and He has placed His favor upon you. 

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Last Words

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Genesis 48 to 50 The covenantal blessing precedes the deaths of Jacob and Joseph, as well as their last words. Abraham blessed Isaac and Ishmael, and now Jacob follows that tradition by blessing his 12 sons. In forward sight, Jacob blessed Judah, noting that the Lion of Judah/the Messiah would come from his line. Judah’s is the longest, followed by Joseph’s. Moses continued that tradition in Deut 33 for all the tribes of Israel,

As Jacob was nearing death, he blessed Joseph’s sons by placing his hands on their heads and symbolically passed on the gifts of heritage and inheritance. Jacob blessed the younger over the eldest, just as it has been seen throughout the book of Genesis: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, and Ephraim over Manasseh. Later Moses would continue that. Jacob thus passed on the privileges and blessings of land and people to Joseph’s sons just as he had received.

Jacob’s and Joseph’s last words are like the finishing threads of a tapestry. The underside threads may be scattered, but the top reveals God’s hand upon their life. Truly “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them,” [Eph 2:10]. What will your tapestry reveal? What are you passing on to your children and your children’s children?

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Celebrations of Blessings!

Count your blessings

Zechariah 14 The Feast of Booths
What celebration brings joy to your heart and mind? Is it Thanksgiving or Christmas, or another? For Israel, it was and is the Feast of Booths/Sukkah to commemorate the release from Egyptian slavery thousands of years ago. It is a celebration of rejoicing over God’s provision. Long ago, God’s command was to return to Jerusalem and build “shelters” to sleep and live in for a week. Then, in the presence of the Temple, the religious leaders would read the Torah.

Imagine yourself sitting and sleeping in an “outdoor tent” and using this time to read about this feast in Leviticus. How might that impact your heart and mind?

Today, we celebrate a similar feast called Thanksgiving. At that time, do we stop and recall God’s blessings? Do we thank God for His provision this past year and look forward to this new year? Do we, like many Israelites, read not only Leviticus but also the entire book of Deuteronomy?

The last part of this celebration was for the adults to perform a ceremony to bless the children. First, the adults make a tent over the heads of the children and recite Genesis 49 as a prayer of blessing.

How do you celebrate God’s precious blessings to you?

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Count Your Blessings

Don't fret- count your blessings

Ps 37 David counsels “us” on how to handle life when the bad guy wins, and you are striving to do good, and it seems that you have lost out. You strive to save your money and shop frugally, yet the guy next door has it all. But does he really? Let’s take a look. David says those guys “seem” to succeed, but in reality, they are the guys who are living hand to mouth every day of the week. If you could look at their bank accounts, you would see that reality!

David speaks to those who don’t see the glitter and glamour. He says don’t fret three times! Instead, trust God. Commit your future to the Lord. Wait patiently for Him. Don’t envy!  When Peter complained: we have left all to follow you; what’s in it for us, Jesus promised blessings which he enumerated in the Sermon on the Mount [Matt 5:3-11]

 Trust in the Lord, Delight in the Lord. Today, don’t fret, don’t envy. And count your blessings, name them one by one, and you will see what God has done!

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“Obedience = Blessing”

Obedience = blessings

Lev 26-27 God desires that His people be a light among the nations. He desires that we obey Him and receive blessings, but just like an errant child who knows what they are to do and not do, sometimes God will allow discipline to correct His children. This is as true today as it was then: “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.” [Prov 22:15] Like the Israelites of old, today we too face fallow land and fallow hearts. 

How often do we think that these many rules or orders were just for the Israelites and they don’t apply to us because we live in NT times and under grace? A principle is a principle, and God is God. He is “does not go back on his word or change his mind, for he is not a human being who changes his mind.” [1Sam. 15:29] God desires that we obey Him now and forever so that He may bless us. Blessings come with obedience and the contrast is also true. 

Just as then, God’s Word is always and forever true: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” [1Jn 1:9] Healing comes when we obey God and His way.

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Soar Like the Eagle!

ImageA good question to ask oneself might be: Where am I today in my spiritual walk? Have I stopped to thank God for His many provisions of blessings?

 In Psalm 102 we find that the psalmist is “in the pits.”  The psalmist  visualizes life alone, life without hope. “I am like an owl in the wilderness;”  bereft of friendship and like a ruin that has been abandoned;  like the solitary bird on a rooftop, alone and separated from company.  In sharp contrast, in Psalm 103 he is soaring like the eagle, the bird that commands the heavens with its ability to fly to the heights of the clouds and descend with a crescendo to capture its prey, in control over others. C.H. Spurgeon wrote: Renewal of strength, amounting to a grant of a new lease of life, was granted to the Psalmist; he was so restored to his former self that he grew young again, and looked as vigorous as an eagle, whose eye can gaze upon the sun, and whose wing can mount above the storm. It is in this time that the psalmist reflects how blessed he has become because of the Lord’s provision and protection.

In reading this psalm reflect on the word “all” and count the many ways that God has touched your life. As a pastor and poet, H. F. Lyte did just that and wrote a famous hymn “Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven.” The first stanza sums up his thoughts as he reflected in his time of prayer and praise:

 Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven;
To His feet thy tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Evermore His praises sing:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King.

Take time today and ponder the many blessings that God has placed before you. “God’s blessings… include forgiveness of sins, healing from sickness, deliverance from death, enrichment of life, satisfaction, and rejuvenation.” [Constable].

Ponder the eagle as a picture of rejuvenation. The eagle mates for life, builds his nest at the very tops of trees, remains strong and lives the longest of any bird, often to 38 yrs. The eagle remains vigorous, symbolizing power, freedom and transcendence, meaning that they surpass and exceed in superiority to the end of their lives. “Likewise God enables His people to remain spiritually vigorous until death.” [Constable]

Where are you today in your spiritual walk? Stop and meditate upon this psalm today and be renewed like the eagle.

 

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