Beware the Blessing

Pursuing God in the "good" times

A bright, sunshine day
I am very much aware of God’s grace in my life. Especially right now. In fact, at this particular time in my life and the life of my family, we perceive ourselves to be very blessed. We are experiencing a unique measure of the Lord’s tangible and gracious blessings, in both material and spiritual ways.

My work has been quite fruitful lately. I have been given a new role and responsibility at our school, and I anticipate good things coming out of it. I have also been given the ability to choose my own schedule for my other part-time job, which is almost unheard of in retail.

Family life has also been wonderful. Our twins continue to grow and develop into very happy and affectionate toddlers. My older 3 children all love the Lord, worship Him joyfully, and my oldest boys serve in our local church. My wife and I are able to go on dates every other week, and our relationship continues to deepen after our 16 years of marriage.

The Lord has been exceedingly gracious to us, and His blessings are many and felt.

A right perspective
The Scriptures have much to say about being materially and demonstrably blessed by God, especially concerning the dangers and cautions of those blessings. You see, when we are blessed by God in very real ways, humans, in our weakness and limitations, can turn these rich blessings into sour grapes by either forgetting about God or thinking that we deserve or have earned these blessings of our own merit. Consider this from Proverbs:

“Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” – Proverbs 30:7-9

God reduces the size of Israel’s army under Gideon so that they won’t boast that it was by their strength and ability that they won in battle and were greatly blessed (Judges 7:2). God had to remind Israel that they were chosen, not because they were so amazing, but because God is so gracious (Deuteronomy 7:7).

Jesus reminds His disciples that abundance of material blessings can make it more difficult for a person to trust in and rely on God, and thus enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mark 10:23-25). Paul reminds us that the love of money and the trusting in our material blessings is a cause of great spiritual pain and suffering (1 Timothy 6:10).

The Word of God testifies that blessings from God must be received with a humble awareness that God alone is good, and though He gives us various gifts, they say much more about God than they do ourselves.

The testimony of saints
Charles Spurgeon, arguably the greatest preacher who ever lived, had much to say about the dangers and pitfalls of prosperity and blessings. In his sermon, “A Caution to the Presumptuous” he declared the following:

“If God should always rock us in the cradle of prosperity—if we were always dandled on the knees of fortune—if we had not some stain on the alabaster pillar, if there were not a few clouds in the sky, some specks in our sunshine—if we had not some bitter drops in the wine of this life, we should become intoxicated with pleasure, we should dream ‘we stand;’ and stand we should, but it would be upon a pinnacle; stand we might, but hike the man asleep upon the mast, each moment we should be in jeopardy. We bless God, then, for our afflictions; we thank him for our depressions of spirit; we extol his name for the losses of our property; for we feel that had it not so happened to us, had he not chastened us every morning, and vexed us every evening, we might have become too secure. Continued worldly prosperity is a fiery trial.”

In his sermon, “Patient Job and the Baffled Enemy” he says:

“A high character might be produced, I suppose, by continued prosperity, but it has very seldom been the case. Adversity, however it may appear to be our foe, is our true friend and, after a little acquaintance with it, we receive it as a precious thing, the prophecy of a coming joy. It should be no ambition of ours to traverse a smooth path without thorn or stone.”

I am persuaded to agree with the Prince of Preachers.

A rare jewel indeed
Jeremiah Burroughs was a Puritan who wrote “The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment” in 1648. It is a must-read for all Christians. Aside from his main thesis, what contentment is and how to attain it, he spends considerable time discussing how we perceive difficulties and create excuses to have discontent. In one particular chapter, he discusses what happens to believers when they experience blessings, and what it is the Lord might be accomplishing through them. He writes:

“Did God give you more prosperity before? It was to prepare you for afflictions. We should look at all our outward prosperity as a preparation for afflictions… Every Christian should say: ‘Have I wealth now? I should prepare for poverty. Have I health now? I should prepare for sickness. Have I liberty? Let me prepare myself for imprisonment. How do I know what God may call me to? Have I comfort and peace now in my conscience, does God shine upon me? While I have this let me prepare for God’s withdrawing from me. Am I delivered from temptations? Let me prepare now for the time of temptations.’ If you would do so, the change of your condition would not be so grievous to you. Sailors who are in calm prepare for storms; would they say, ‘If we never had calms we could bear storms, but we have had calms so many years or weeks together, that this is grievous?’ In your calm you are to prepare for storms, and the storm will be less.”

Life is not always lived on the mountain top; life also happens in the valley depths. The richness of material blessings and the absence of present sufferings will most likely not last forever. Followers of Jesus must pursue Christ during the times of blessings, strengthening their love and devotion to Jesus, and setting themselves up for faithfulness when the blessings, in whatever way, are taken away.

A personal warning
So, in this time of personal blessing, I have to remember to pursue God and not let my love for Him wane. I can’t think my ability and my faithfulness have led to all of this, at least not in any primary or significant way. I have to recall that every gift I have is a gracious gift from God above (James 1:17). I have to use this time to prepare for difficult times ahead, when the blessings won’t be as material or as pronounced.

A wise friend once told me that character is not developed during trials and difficulties. Character is revealed in suffering. The strength of steel is not displayed when the sword is on your mantle, but when it is engaged in combat with another. The strength of the chair is not seen when it is tucked under your table, but when you put weight upon it. The integrity of the glass bakeware is not shown while it sits in your cupboard, but when the heat is turned up in the oven. What a person is made of is revealed during difficulties. This is precisely what the Lord tells the Israelites as they wander in the desert.

“The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” – Deuteronomy 8:1-3

So, if character is revealed and not developed during difficulties, when is it developed?

During the times of blessings, that’s when.

Diligence in blessings
When things are going well, when the blessings abound, that is when we develop our character and strengthen our spirits in preparation for the day of sufferings and trials. Anyone who does any type of working out knows that you develop your core by doing stretches and exercises every day, while you are healthy, and stress and physical strain reveal how strong you are; they don’t make your core stronger.

How do we “work out” our souls so as to be ready for the day of spiritual strain? To no one’s surprise, it’s exactly what I have been writing about for the past 5 years or so.

First, commit to spending regular and intentional time in the Word of God daily. Read it, study it, memorize it, sing it, pray it, discuss it, and reflect upon it. Where the Word of God is neglected, spiritual growth is sure to be stunted.

Second, immerse yourself in intentional and authentic Christian community, and by that, I mean a solid local church. We need others to call out our blind spots, encourage us in our faith, build us up through service, and correct us when we wander into sin. The Christian “lone wolf” is sure to fall hard in times of difficulties.

Third, practice the spiritual disciplines often, especially something like fasting. Fasting is when we tell our bodies that we will not be ruled by physical desires, including hunger, and that we can be self-controlled and disciplined, even when it hurts. I’m sure you can see how this practice will prepare you for trials and suffering.

I know my life won’t always be one with God’s blessings showering over me in tangible and apparent ways. I need to strengthen my love for Christ and make my heart ready for when the grace of God looks like suffering and difficulties, which are sure to come. I need to receive His blessings with open-handed humility, and not forget from Whom they come.