Open Wide the Floodgates
Deuteronomy 28:2-6
“And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle. … Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”
Promises as thorough and all-encompassing as these can both lead the Christian pilgrim to deepened longing for that heavenly Promised Land and to deepened despondency over a perceived lack of fulfillment in the here and now. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Maybe you’re there even now: you’ve remained faithful to God, you’ve upheld His Word even to the chagrin of friends and family, you’ve sacrificed money and career and a first-class ticket on the cruise ship to wear a cross instead, but your business still went under. Or you filed for bankruptcy, or that dream home you built burned down, or you got fired unexpectedly, or you lost your retirement fund, or you buried your own child, or you had to sell your farm due to drought, or your spouse left you for a neighbor, or your children disowned you because of your Christian stance, or something of the like. And you concluded in the depths of that travail that either (a) God doesn’t keep His word, or (b) you weren’t good enough to merit the blessing.
Friend, let me remind you that God emphatically does keep His Word and that your faithfulness to Him is overflowing your life with heavenly blessing even now. “In this world you will have tribulation; but take heart! I have overcome the World!”, our Lord vowed. And haven’t both of those facts come true throughout your life of faith? Hasn’t Christ proven to be a Brother in your loneliness, a Healer in your sadness, an empathetic Friend in your struggle, a Refuge in your weakness, a Peace in your storm?! Yes, life is full of unavoidable sorrows, but in Christ, we are more than conquerors! In Christ, we are overtaken by blessings, drenched in the rains of God’s mercies, flooded by deep fountains of spiritual prosperity that those enslaved to sin know nothing of.