The concept of what God’s blessing should look like takes so many different forms that it’s sometimes hard to wrap your head around. By “blessing,” I mean a condition that brings goodwill and happiness, or being under God’s favor. Some even associate it primarily with suffering, thinking you have to go through trials and tribulations to experience the blessings God offers. On the other side of the scale are those who equate divine blessing with great wealth. The more God blesses, the richer you are. Between those two extremes, a myriad of opinions and ideas float around.
Where is the truth in all of this? I certainly don’t have the answer, but I would like to share an experience that helped me realize that God delights in blessing His children. Unfortunately, too often we don’t even see it.
When I was in my early twenties, circumstances dictated that I live for about six months with a newly married couple, whom I’ll call John and Mary. We got along great, and we’re still in touch after all these years (I won’t admit how many!). But there was one area where we disagreed: the existence of God. John was an atheist or an agnostic; I don’t remember which. We had discussions on the topic (should I say arguments?), but I think most of the time we avoided the subject to keep the peace.
After a few months of rooming together, it became clear to me that something was irritating John. It came to a head when I was sharing with them what had happened to me that day. I had gone into a shop to buy something and had accidentally left my wallet behind. As I was leaving the store, another customer yelled out to alert me to that fact. With a grateful heart, I thanked the man and retrieved my forgotten wallet.
“Not again!” John declared, his voice resigned.
“What do you mean?” I asked in surprise.
“You have a good-luck charm that follows you wherever you go!” he answered.
To prove his point, he went on to cite other examples of things that had happened to me, instances when I had been blessed with incredible luck, as he saw it. I have long since forgotten the illustrations he gave, and even back then I hadn’t noticed them.
I tried to convince him that I had no such good-luck charm, but he wasn’t buying it. I pointed out that, if anything, he was noticing God’s protection and favor, but he liked that idea even less. After this conversation, until we moved and went our separate ways, he continued to point out incidents, little things from daily life, that, according to him, were proof of my special luck.
I started wondering what he was seeing that I wasn’t. I came to the conclusion that he was witnessing evidence of God’s blessing on my life. I’m embarrassed to say I wouldn’t have even noticed it if he hadn’t mentioned it! Sure, I was aware of God’s help and protection at various times, but not to the extent John was. I wasn’t seeing the big picture like he was.
I’m not implying that I’m special in any way. I’m sharing this to show that God is in the business of blessing His children. To my shame, it took someone who doesn’t even believe in God to point that truth out to me.
Do we have any influence on the blessings we experience? Of course we do. Some blessings come specifically from being His child. The teachings of Jesus, called the Beatitudes, give us further insight into who is blessed. One could say that, in general, an upright life leads to blessing. But God is neither reluctant nor stingy in handing out His blessings. On the contrary, He’s looking for every opportunity to do so.
It’s been many years since John pointed out to me that I had a “good luck charm.” I can testify that the Lord has been faithful and that, as a child of God, I am under His blessing. I hope I notice it more than I did back then. There’s an old hymn that encourages us to “count your blessings, name them one by one.” That’s very good advice!
Picture: Carol Schlorff