02/09/2022
Each morning when I wake up I thank God for the day, and the many blessings of the day before. I also pray the He forgives me for my sins, ask for the salvation of the souls of those around me, and many other things, but I always conclude my early morning prayers by asking Him to keep His hand on me during the day, and to continue blessing me. However, when I ask for His blessing I fully understand that those blessings come in many forms. I might receive some by joyfully being in His presence, I might happily get additional pay at work, or meet a new person who I can share the gospel with, but blessings don’t always come wrapped in happiness, sometimes they are born of terrible suffering and hardship. You see, our greatest blessings are spiritual in nature, and those quite often rise up from hard times. Are you in the midst of a storm in your life?
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”
James 5:13 ESV
This scripture is instructive, and tells us to sing to God when we are happy, but more importantly it tells us to seek out the Lord in the midst of our suffering. Think back on your life, and you will recognize that the prayers you have prayed from within the heart of life’s worst storms have been your most sincere, they have humbled you before God, and brought you closest to Jesus, the Lord, and their comfort. Thus, these times have brought you the greatest blessings of faith. The apostle Paul knew this all too well…
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV
My mother and father-in-law lost a daughter to leukemia when she was just a child. It was a terrible time that crushed their hearts, and brought their entire family to its knees. My wife has told me of their joint suffering, and how it affected their entire family as they walked through that valley. Yet, as I listen to her recollections I see how incredibly this family’s faith was impacted, and how it allowed those around them to not only love on them, but to share in their prayers as they were brought to their knees in tears, and held tight by the Lord. Times like these can sometimes cripple people, but if we cling to our faith they will bless us, and bring us soaring in faith to the mountaintop. My wife’s family was ushered to that mountaintop through their faith in Christ… and that faith lifted me up as well.
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””
Revelation 21:4 ESV
Times such as these help define our faith as we come to the Father for relief from our various miseries, and we learn in the midst of the agony we are feeling to lean on Him completely. Think back on a simpler time in your life; about those occasions as a child when you would hurt yourself. Invariably you would run to your mother for help and comfort. She would clean and dress any wound, and then she would kiss you and hold you tight. For your part you would snuggle closer to her, and your love for her was reinforced and deepened at that moment… it is like this in our adult tribulations too, when we run to God, and our faith and love for Him is reinforced and is deepened as we lean into Him.
“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.”
Jeremiah 17:14 ESV
One particular time of great fear taught Peter to lean on Jesus in his moment of doubt, and that instruction became an amazing blessing to him, and all who have read of it since that day… listen…
“He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?””
Matthew 14:29-31 ESV
So in our times of fear, pain, grief, and mourning, we cry out to God just like Peter, and we come to the same humble understanding that Paul did. Like them, our faith soars on the wings of eagles, and lifts us up over the cliffs of hardship that we invariably come face to face with in this world. We realize in these moments that our greatest blessings are not of this world, but in spite of it. We are blessed in spirit and truth, by our faith, far beyond anything this carnal world can offer us.
“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
1 John 5:4-5 ESV
Thank the Lord today for your many blessings, but thank Him most for those that you encounter in the midst of whatever storm you are in. Perhaps you are within one today, and if you are, call out to Jesus, and ask God to reveal His blessing to you!
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the many blessings you pour out on us. Thank you for those that come wrapped in joy, and happiness, but thank you most for the great lessons of faith that we learn in the midst of life’s storms. Thank you for humbling us, for teaching us to serve you despite the hardships we might encounter, and force watering the mustard seed of faith within us with the rains of every storm. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is served by the day and night, and by the gentle breezes of sunny days, just as you are by the dark clouds and flashes of lightening. Praised be your name for all your blessings great and small. Teach us to recognize them, and to thank you as we receive them one and all. Merciful are you who will not let us be destroyed by our storms of grief, or struggle, as we lift up our prayers to you. Your grace is sufficient for us, and finds us in the good times and bad to redeem us, and to strengthen us in our love, and faith in you. Wash us with the blood of Christ, and let us hear him say, in his agony, and obedience, “It is done.” In that moment let our sin fall away. Find us worthy in Him as we are transformed to be in His image, and seat us at your table forevermore. Make us perfect as we receive your many blessings, and lessons of faith… perfect us through the greatest and smallest of them alike.
Rich Forbes