Don't Squander Blessings

Isaiah 30:22,23 "You will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, 'Be gone!'  Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture." (NASB)

When they finally destroy their idols, God will send the rain that they need and all of the other blessings. If we trust an idol and all goes well, we give credit to the idol and our souls wander ever farther from the God who loves us and doesn’t want to see us ruined. Perhaps sometimes in His love for us He witholds blessings from us in order to keep that from happening. Maybe that is why God says to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and [then] all these things will be added to you.” (Matt 6:33)

There is a practical aspect to this as well. All gifts bring complications. Small gifts bring small complications. If I get a snow globe I will need to clear off a little space for it on top of my bookshelf. Bigger gifts bring bigger complications. What kind of complications might a new puppy bring into my life? It is immensely helpful to know the origin of a gift so that when these complications arise, you know where to go for help.

Let’s say somebody gave me a new bicycle. That’s fantastic! But it is still in the box, it needs to be assembled, and there is no instruction manual. I need to know where the bike came from, which manufacturer, so I can figure out how to put it together. Later I’ll want some extra parts, like a rack and mud flaps. As the bike wears out, eventually I’ll need replacement parts.

If somebody just dropped the box on my doorstep I would be quite at a loss about how to deal with these things. However, if the owner of a bicycle shop puts the bike on my porch and gives me his phone number, I can call him whenever I need help. He can supply me with parts, give me advice, help me to put it together, and fix it when it breaks.

This is how God is. He not only manufactures the bike, He wants to help us put it together and show us how to keep it in top condition. If we refuse to acknowledge that it is from Him and instead put it together our own way, ride it however we want, and repair it with whatever seems to work best to us, the bicycle will never be what it should have been. I think marriage is like that, as are many other of life's greatest gifts. The only way we can properly benefit from them are through an ongoing relationship with the Giver.