God's Big On Blessings

I'm a blessed woman!  I'm so blessed that I discovered something the other day when I flipped open to the first book of the Bible.  I realized that the first thing God does in relation to man, is to bless him.  Hmmm...this was an interesting trail, and as I pursued the path, I made another discovery.  The very first Psalm is also about blessings:  "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly..." and so on.  This trail was hot, and so, as I followed it into the New Testament, I discovered that even the Beatitudes begin with a blessing: "Blessed are the poor in spirit...blessed are they that mourn...blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness."  

Funny how it's God's disposition to bless...and keep on blessing.  I looked that word up in the Bible Dictionary and it said that the act of blessing is an act of declaring, or wishing, God's favor and goodness upon others. The blessing is not only the good effect of words; the blessing has the power to bring them to pass.  Got that?  Don't miss it.  A blessing - inspired by the Spirit  - has the power to bring God's favor upon others to pass.  (Boy, makes you wanna say 'God bless you' and really mean it!) I know one thing for sure: God means it! 

I know, I know....we have a hard time believing that it is the true inclination of God to shower His favor and goodness upon us wretched, wanting folks with shriveled souls.  God...wants to bless...us?!  It's His heart's desire to show us favor?!  Can you identify with that? 

I know I can.  But let me tell you where my trail ended up.  Trails end was a quote I found by Dr. John Piper (one of my favorites).  He says this, "When God blesses us, it is what He really loves to do.  It is God's pleasure...in other words, God is not acting in a generous manner in order to cloak or hide some malicious motive.  God is not saying inside, 'I will have to be generous for while, even though I don't want to be, because what I really want to do is bring judgment on sinners.' ... God is not under constraint to do what He doesn't really want to do.  He is truly acting out His deepest delight.  God's joy, His desire, His want and wish and hope and pleasure and gladness and delight is to bless...to give the Kingdom to His flock.  As it says, 'Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's pleasure - not His duty, nor His necessity, nor His obligation, but His pleasure - to be generous with you.  That is the kind of God He is.  That is the measure of the greatness of His heart." 

Hey...what do you think of this trail?!  Every step of the way, I found blessing upon blessing.  God's favor, His grace, His approval, His loving instruction, His wise reproof and correction, His gentle persuasion, His gifts of health and comfort and consolation in times of hardship, His blessing of friends and rest and eyesight and hearing and intellect and wonder and joy... all of it is toward you.  It's the disposition of the Lord of the universe to bless you...today. 

Previously aired as #4693 on 4/26/00.

www.joniandfriends.org  © Joni and Friends