“Well done, my good servant, his master replied, because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of 10 cities.” Luke 19:17

“Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ, Jesus”  1 Thessalonians 4:16

I start with a disclaimer in a way about the title.  The “Perhaps as God Sees them?” is not to infer that I believe that I have the wisdom, insight or righteousness to speak to how God sees things.  It is meant more as an aspect of potential difference between earthly and heavenly vision.

Blessings!  We may often times proclaim that we are blessed, but what do we mean by that?  We ask for and indeed are encouraged to ask for blessings.  Yet what constitutes a blessing and upon receipt of one or many; what is an appropriate reaction?  Do blessings shift based upon the eye of the beholder?

The third entry on the site Dictionary.com defines blessing as “invoking of God’s favor upon a person”.  In the bible blessings could come in the form of speaking words over a person as well as actual actions like healings, etc. Thus as we look at our lives, do we see God’s favor being invoked on our behalf?  Is the overall action of Grace in our lives the constant blessing versus individual acts?

There are two aspects that I want to look at when we think about the topic of blessing; first is there concept of size and how much does that matter.  Second is the knowledge and anticipation of blessing and how that effects its receipt.

First let’s explore size and our measurement of size.  For example, a healing from cancer, the full recovery from a stroke, the successful transplant of a major organ, would definitely seem to fit into the category of blessings to me.  God’s favor is being invoked by these medical triumphs.  But is good health a blessing?  Is going through this day, getting a clean bill of health on the annual physical, not coming down with the sickness that’s going around; are all those mainly because of the way I diet, my exercise regimen, getting enough rest etc.?  Does it take more energy or more favor from God to cure me then it does to keep my healthy in the first place?  Let’s say you and I are praying to become debt free.  If Publisher’s Clearinghouse came to our door with an enormous check that would allow us in one fell swoop to pay off all our debt, we might declare that an amazing blessing.  Yet what if we get some small work done and the person decides not to charge us to either keep us from going further into debt or utilizing some of what we would have used on that job to pay off some debt.  Is that a blessing?  Is it as big a blessing as the Publisher’s Clearinghouse? A personal example of mine is that I’m a published author who prays that his writing might have a relatively measurable level of success (perhaps landing on a bestseller list).  Now if some famous person happened to see, read and recommend my book causing it to end up on the New York Times best seller list, I would call that a blessing.  I would feel the favor of the Lord in that.  But what about the two people who purchased books recently?  Is that a blessing?  Do I discount a purchase here or there because I can’t pay the bills with that level of purchases? Is there no blessing in those small purchases, really?

Jesus teaches a parable where, depending on the translation a master or powerful king gives a small token of his monetary wealth to some servants; telling them to put the money to work while he is away on a trip.  Two out of the three servants do what they can with the money, they invest it which does have some risk associated with it and they gain some money for the king.  Yet one servant is not willing to take any risk with what is given to him, to afraid to utilize it at all, he buries it so that he knows at least he can’t lose the money.  The king has an interesting reaction to the servant’s efforts.  The two servants who took what was given to them and put it to work, although there might be some risk, were rewarded.  The one servant who buried what was given to him and didn’t allow it to provide any benefit was stripped of his money and left out in the cold.  If the king had started out saying, if you do good I’m going to put you in charge of cities, then all three servants might have worked hard seeing a large reward.  However, the gain of the two servants was not great in comparison to the master’s overall wealth, but because they were faithful in the small amounts that they had, the master figured they would be faithful enough to entrust with a much more significant amount.  In the same way, are we only looking for the “big” blessings?  Can we see God’s favor in the short rain shower when its been dry for weeks or does it have to be an all day soaker?  Can we find appreciation when we’re asking for a new car but the old car passes inspection without costing us anything?  We desperately want the promotion to manager but we’re given a new assignment that, at this points, gives us some more money and responsibility; is their God’s favor in that?  If we’re not appreciative of or can not see the favor of God unless there is a monumental happening in our life skipping over the day to day blessings that are showered down upon us; can we really be trusted to be faithfully, appropriately, appreciative at those big times?

So now that we’ve talked a little about size of blessing, what about the timing of the blessing(s)?  I know for myself, there have been times when I’ve thought or said to myself:  “Man if I only knew!”  In this case what I mean is perhaps I was in a place of consternation or uncertain expectation about some future situation.  Once the situation unfolds or the outcome happens and I clearly see the blessing that God poured out, I think how easier my life would have been if I knew that particular blessing was coming.  Yet the reality is would it really have been easier if I knew?  One example we can use is the Israelites as they left Egypt.  God had promised they were heading for the promised land; a land dripping with milk and honey.  God was physically with them at times, in a pillar of smoke during the day, and pillar of fire at night.  However that did not keep them from being fearful and complaining about starving or dying of thirst.  So if God were to lay everything out in front of me, in His plan about the future blessings to come; would that make my today better?  Would I be so impatient for that future date that I would become frustrated and downtrodden at what was happening today?  Would I be so focused on the future blessings that I would totally miss the blessing and love that God poured out on me each day leading up to the blessings?  Would I grumble at God, at His length of time to fulfill His plan or would I be praising each day?  I’m humble enough to realize my failings and my potential ungratefulness.

Bottom line is that God does bless.  I don’t remember an aspect in scripture concerning the measurement of blessings or the importance of them based on size.  Not only is God’s plan perfect, His blessings are more than sufficient for us. Also how much He communicates about His plans and future blessings is perfect as well.  Let us strive to see and receive in full appreciation and praise the favor of God that is poured out on us by His Graceful Blessings we constantly receive.

Our Most Gracious Heavenly Father; we are so thankful Lord for Your constant and merciful grace that manifests itself in countless blessings that we receive.  Forgive us when we are quick to overlook Your blessings because they don’t seem impactful enough or have not come when we think that they should.  Help us to pray for Your Spirit that will allow us to be faithfully patient, confident in Your Plan, including its timing.  That in our acknowledgement and praise we would be living lives that bring glory to Your Most Holy Name.  We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen