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WEEKLY ENCOURAGEMENT
Updated: Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Faith Without Blessings
"Can God withdraw His blessings from us with out our trust in Him being affected?" I read this quote in Oswald Chambers devotional "My Utmost for His Highest". This is a thought provoking question. How do we feel when we see no apparent blessing from our Lord? How do we feel when in fact, it appears things are going terrible? Is our faith level unconsciously tied to the amount of blessings we receive?
Let us look at Job's situation. The Bible tells us Job was righteous and faithful before the Lord and was abundantly blessed. Then a major change occurs in Job's life. The blessings stop and Satan is allowed to inflict Job with great pain and loss. Does this lack of blessings give Job grounds to stop trusting God? Is God less faithful because He allowed this trial into Job's life?
Job chooses to trust God regardless of what is going on around him. After the loss of his material wealth and the death of his children he said, "…the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." After his health and position was destroyed Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:" Job 1:21, 13:15.
The Lord's faithfulness is never dependant on our circumstances or feelings. Our faith must be grounded in the person of Jesus Christ and not in what He does or does not do for us. We are so limited in our understanding of what our Lord is doing in and through our lives that we can not even make a good judgment on what is a blessing and what is not.
I am sure Job did not feel as if he were being blessed when Satan was afflicting him. However, when this time came to pass, Job received twice as much as he had had before. Even more important, Job testifies to the difference brought about in his relationship to his Lord. "I heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee." Job 42:5 He had been most definitely blessed.
Faith must be tested. Difficulties and trials are allowed to grow us in our relationship to our Lord. Faith is not about getting what we need or want. Faith is all about total confidence in Jesus Christ. He has promised to meet our needs. The "how" and "when" are His to determine.
When pain, suffering and lose come, our feelings are prone to say the Lord has forsaken us, or we are not loved, or perhaps He is angry at us. It is vital for us to remember our enemy is the father of lies and a master deceiver. He loves to inject our minds with doubt. When we are solid in our trust in the Lord because of who He is, we can resist these thoughts and exercise our faith. Habakkuk 3:17-18 is a verse I have often read when it appeared there were no blessings, and only trials in my life.
"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no heard in the stalls; yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
POINT TO PONDER:Would you "feel" as secure in God's care if the blessings stopped?
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- Sandy Hastings |
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