Receiving Blessings

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”

– Psalm 84:11

If God says it, He will do it. Our issue is that we often judge and measure His mercies through our expectations and hopes. And this leaves us discouraged in waiting for so-called blessings that God never promised us. That is because they are likely promises and hopes we have created in our minds that do not coincide with His Word.

What expectations of God do we truly have? What promises do we base our hopes upon? God’s Word declares that He has plans for us. He has plans for a future and hope. Yet what if these mercies from our Heavenly Father have not arrived, and what if they never come? They certainly do come, yet not always in the seasons and ways we expect.

As pilgrims here in a foreign land, we have the assurance that we will lack no provision on the road between here and heaven (Matthew 6:33). If it is something worthy and sound, the Lord will not withhold from us our requests (Matthew 7:11). However, if He withholds from His children then we know it is not His best for us.

Spurgeon once said, “God’s worst is better than the devil’s best.” Yet we find ourselves chasing after the things this world has to offer more than building the kingdom of God. God gives us as His children His very best. And if we pursue Him, we are promised to be given all things freely. After all, He gave us His Son. And as the Scripture says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

“A prerequisite for receiving God’s blessings is trust.”

– Allen P. Ross