(ThyBlackMan.com) From time immemorial there has been a terrific fight for the soul of humanity. It seems that God brought about the fight when he created the first human being, and gave him the power of choice, and some people have wondered about that.
Why did God, some wondered, have to make humans with the ability to choose, knowing all along that we would choose the pathways of evil more than the pathways of righteousness? It was the serpent that approached Eve, knowing that she had the ability to choose, to defy God, to exercise her discretion exactly as she wanted, even when to do so would cause her untold pain, and suffering.
By a nexus of history and divine foresight, God chose Abraham, and through him Israel, as the means of having a renewed relationship with us. He allowed Israel, his chosen people, to make the most dreadful choices that caused much suffering to Israel, and also to humanity in general. Who can forget God’s generosity of spirit, when He set before Israel these choices as they were heading towards the Promised Land?
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
One wonders what would have happened had God restricted Israel’s choices, and those inclining to choose contrary to God’s wishes were wiped out. What would be the situation if the choices were between better and best, and not between good and bad, blessings and curses?
What we do know, is that God created us with the power of choice, our own freewill, for noble reasons. Humans are put on earth to serve and worship the Creator, but God finds no joy or honour if we are forced to do so. God delights in us, when we of our own freewill, choose to love and worship him, since there is nothing comparable to that anywhere in the universe.
When we choose to love and worship God, he ensures that we enter a state of blessedness, something that is God given, a gracious favour to us, because of our choice. Therefore, because God’s blessing is impregnable, cannot be obliterated by enemy action, the enemy of our souls seeks to derail us, by trying to make us choose that which is contrary to God.
The truth is, that whenever God is in a relationship with us through Jesus Christ, he brings to bear his omnipotence, so that no outside force can interfere. We do well to remember that our enemies are powerful, but God is allpowerful, effortlessly supreme, and no one can ever best God.
It is because God is invincible, that his blessings cannot be nullified by anyone.
Here is how the Bible puts it, “Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.” (Numbers 23:20). The prophet who said this, Baalam, wanted to curse Israel to get a reward from Balak, King of Moab, but he could not.
Here we meditate on Proverbs 10: 22, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” I want to believe that this scripture is true, that my blessing is without sorrow, without misery, and yet I do not feel blessed at times because of all that is happening around me.
Am I allowing the miseries all around me to get me down, am I falling into the same trap as David in exile when he was feeling down, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?” (Psalm 42:5)
God’s blessing is not just about feelings, about happiness and contentment, but also about knowing. A settled mind is always a great blessing.
Job was blessed because he knew he was in a relationship in which he was protected, and shielded, from the abuses of Satan, and confirmed by the devil himself, “Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” (Job 1:9-10)
Paul was blessed because he knew in whom he trusted, and what he had, “…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12)
It is Satan’s job to throw miseries at us, to try and weaken our stand with Christ, to weaken our resolve, to get us to lower our guard so that he can snatch us, but Jesus has made it clear that his sheep is not for snatching: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29)
Miseries are real, and will be in the world for as long as we live, but they cannot intrude and obliterate our blessings, except of course we allow them in, and we become overwhelmed. But even here we have a blessed remedy, “…when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalm 61:2)
Every Christian is blessed, and surrounded with blessings in abundance, and it is necessary to know that, and rejoice, and give God thanks.
Devotional prayer: Father, in the name of Jesus, I give you thanks for the many blessings you have bestowed upon me. Thank you for your care and protection, and for guiding me to do your will day by day. May your blessing rest on me, and on all your children, in the name of Jesus I ask, with thanksgiving. Amen.
Staff Writer; Henderson W.
You can contact this Christian brother at: HWard@ThyBlackMan.com.
