Living Under God’s Blessing

God loves to bless his people. In fact, it’s safe to say this is the thing God most loves to do! Isaiah writes, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion” (Isaiah 30:18, NIV).

Sadly, we often act as if God wants the exact opposite. We live the “Eeyore Life” convinced that everything is going wrong. Then we persuade ourselves that this is by God’s design. We become convinced that God just wants to punish us.

Of course, because we are sinners, the feeling of being under God’s wrath is both logical and persistent. And we should make no mistake, God does tell us that he will punish unrepentant sinners.

But God’s objective is always love. His intent is always to wake people up and draw them back into a more powerful relationship with himself.

Because the true heart of God is to call us by his name — to adopt us as his very own — and to be gracious to us. His real passion is to bless us, to keep us safe from harm, to always be smiling at us and helping us prosper.

And that’s exactly what he tells Moses to keep repeating to the Israelites as they journey through the wilderness of Sinai. It’s almost as if he never wants them to experience a doubt about what he feels toward them, isn’t it?

I hope that when you hear these words each Sunday at CrossWalk, your doubts are erased too. Like John Wooden says, “Magnify God’s blessings.” Even better, we might say, “Magnify God for all his blessings!”

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron and his sons, “‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.'”

“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them” (Numbers 6:22-27, NIV).

Our Bible reading for Tuesday, March 17, is Numbers 5:11 – 6:27, Luke 2:1-20 and Proverbs 7:6-20.

God, erase all my doubts about your love for me, a sinner. Too often I fall under the spell of negativity caused by own guilt and shame. Remind me that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Help me to know that your deepest passion is to have me experience and live under your blessing! Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for your grace!

Header image based on "John Wooden: If We Magnified Blessings..." by BK, CC By 2.0