As I prayed for my son last night, I asked God to show me a way that I could bless him for his birthday today. I have no means for material gifts at the moment, and as most parents would, I am feeling badly because of it. I want to bless him simply because He is my child. I decided that, as a 16 year old boy, he would most like for me to allow him to get his driver's permit. While I have major reservations about him getting his license right now, I thought that getting the permit would not only bless him, but encourage him as well. So, I took the card that I had bought him and signed the permission for permit that has been sitting on my desk since we arrived here in Savannah, and I put them both on the counter so that he would see them when he went out the door for school. That was the plan...
As usual, getting my son out of bed in the morning is a chore. This morning, it was a battle! After arguing, he got up and slammed the door of his room, locking it; and to my surprise went out the window, never coming out to the kitchen to realize the blessing I had prepared for him.
I say all of that not as a "put down" of my son, but because it reminded me of how God must feel. God loves us and so desires to bless us; yet we do not always put ourselves in a position of receiving His blessings.
Throughout the Bible we read the stories of rebellion and disobedience. The children of Israel were famous for their disobedience and they suffered time and time again, for it. The reality of it is that God requires obedience for our benefit. Gen 20:12 Regard and treat with honor, due obedience and courtesy, your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God gives you. As I read this verse today, I saw something that I had not seen before. Not only does this verse speak of obedience to earthly parents and to God, as our Father, but it speaks of the lengthening of our days in the land that he promised to His people. The very land they wandered around for 40 years and didn't enter because of their disobedience.
As I thought on that, I thought about the promises of the New Covenant. I thought about my own disobedience and how it causes suffering and keeps me from entering in to all (the fullness) of Christ. While we live in grace--the unmerited favor of God through the sacrifice of Christ--there are still consequences for our sin. The degree of peace, the unrealized blessings because I did not follow His leadings, not to mention the blessing to someone else that should have come but didn't, because I failed to speak the word of exhortation God put on my heart for them. All of these things and more, keep us from seeing and realizing the right hand of God in this life.
And like me, wanting to bless my son, God wants to pour out on us, His Children, the riches of His Glory in Christ. We need to position ourselves through obedience and faith for His blessing. Deut 11:26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse--the blessing if you obey...and the curse if you will not obey. God gave Israel the choice; and He presents each of us with the same choice each day. While we are no longer under the law, God still requires our obedience. He is just. It is His nature; it can not be changed. Yes, we who are under grace are already blessed. Rom 4:8 Blessed and happy and to be envied is the person of whose sin the Lord will take no account nor reckon it against him. In addition, under grace, there are blessings for those who trust, who are steadfast, who endure and who adhere to (our obedient in) the things of God.
I want to be in a position to receive the blessings from His right hand each and every day. I don't want to miss a single one!
Father, forgive us our failings and trespasses. Teach us to trust you completely and to love you obediently. Help us to see your blessings toward us and to be vehicles for your blessings to others. We thank You and praise Your Mighty Name. Amen
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