God's Blessing

Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield. Ps. 5:12

What do you believe about God's favor?  Through the past years of my faith life, I was warmed and comforted by the fact that I was sheltered in God's favor because I belonged to him and he would take care of me.  I equated my feelings of being in his favor with how well I felt I was pleasing him-making sure I had confessed my sins, forgiving others, making sure I was doing Christian disciplines like Bible reading, prayer and going to church.  If all that was good, then God was good with me and could show his favor to me.

Favor meant blessing.  If I prayed for a parking space close to the building and one opened up, cha-ching!  He was blessing me. I was healthy all winter, my kids weren't brats at the restaurant, I was just in time to snatch up the last of the on-sale item, the red flashing lights of the car behind me held an officer who left me off the hook... Wasn't God good to me?  Uh hah, Come on now.  Let's give it up for God!

Farther into this acknowledging God's blessing thing, popular Christian thought was turning that kind of delight in little blessings into guilt for how childish, petty and selfish I was for taking joy in such rubbing-a-rabbit's-foot-like outcomes. My handy dandy parking spot may mean someone struggling with walking becomes overexerted for the day. Besides, walking farther is good exercise for me.

So which is it? Giving God credit for blessings I enjoy, or considering the easy things of life to be just a part of the natural rhythm of the ups and downs of life that all creatures experience? God does say we have been blessed and he does say his favor is on those who love him.

Here's the truth, God's favor is totally undeserved and unmerited.  There is nothing we can do to earn it more than we already have it through our status with him by faith in Jesus Christ. So while we walk in that favor we may experience unexpected gifts of good circumstances, extra wealth and good health. Unexpected because these aren't where our focus is placed.  If we do expect good outcomes always, we will be tempted to blame God when hardship and trouble sneak in. If then, our focus is on enjoying an intimate and ever increasing relationship with the One who calls us friends, then his favor and blessing will be our mutual delight in living a fulfilling and hope-filled life with him.

So we are thankful to God when things work out, giddy even. And we must give thanks when things occur that feel impossibly hard and evil. Not thankful for the ugly circumstances, but because our faith knows that God hasn't changed his mind about blessing us. He's not mad at us.  He delights in drawing even closer to us in those times and we know he's always up to something good. Yes, his ways aren't our ways and his methods can be mysterious, and that cliche "everything works out for a reason" doesn't always mean we'll know the reason, at least in our lifetime. But in those times we discover that his presence and delight in us is enough. He will never leave us or forsake us. He gives strength to the weary, and we know his kindness will prevail.

As Christ followers, we are surrounded by his blessing and favor, always!

Read the next post for more on being blessed by God.