Blessings

November 1, 2019

The first Friday evening of the month usually finds us with three other couples having dinner before retiring to the living room of whichever home we are in...to pray. We go around the circle relating the situations and people needing prayer. Often as one by one we mention names and circumstances, I am struck by how trouble-free my life is. It tempts me to say how blessed I am except for two facts. First, if God’s blessing is measured by an absence of problems and difficulties, does that mean people who are going through tough times are not blessed by God? How does that square with the Biblical perspective that many of God’s most faithful followers experience trouble and even persecution to the point of torture and death? 

Then there’s the Beatitudes. Jesus’ list of blessings is devoid of the material goods and physical health that form the perimeter of what we usually consider blessings. Instead, he speaks of poverty, hunger, weeping, persecution (Matthew 5 & Luke 6), not the usual stuff of blessings. Jesus’ words are so contrary to our thinking; why would he call these blessings? 

Perhaps it’s because it’s these experiences that drive us to our knees and make us realize how much we depend on God for life itself. When life is going well, it’s easy to let slide the things that are most important. I have no desire to relive the hard times in my life, but I have to admit when walking through those dark valleys I clung more tightly and experienced the presence and power of Christ in ways I don’t see when the sun is shining and all is well in my world. 

Tonight, all is well in my world, but I know that could change at any time. I am grateful for the calm, but also for the storms in which, holding onto Jesus’ hand, I walked on water.