I Will Bless You

I Will Bless You

The LORD told Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” –Genesis 12:1-3

A hidden agenda. As natural skeptics, and because we’ve encountered so many hidden agendas in the world around us, we can’t help but wonder if God has one, especially when he doesn’t do what we expect him to do. But God declared up front his agenda for this world. Nothing is hidden. His agenda is this: He plans to bless us. He wants to unleash his life-enriching goodness and mercy upon empty, dying, disillusioned people. He wants to flood our world with redeeming grace. Our problem with God’s agenda is not that it is hidden, but that it simply seems too good to be true.

We don’t deserve and can’t earn God’s blessing; it is a gift. In fact, when God chose to bless Abraham, he was no saint-in-training but was more likely an idol-worshiper-in-training since his father worshiped other gods (Joshua 24:2). But God chose to lavish his grace upon him. And in his promise to Abraham, God declared his whole purpose and agenda for redemptive history—to bless all people of the earth through Abraham and his descendants. The rest of Scripture is the story of God keeping his promise.

Don’t let anyone convince you that you need to send in some money or jump through any spiritual hoops for God to bless you. He is not stingy or sour; he is ready and willing. But his blessing might not take the shape you were hoping for or expecting. God doesn’t send his blessings like rain falling from the sky. He sent his truest blessing through a mediator, a messenger. The blessing promised to Abraham comes to all of us the same way: through Jesus. Jesus is the blessing of God sent to a hurting world. If you are disappointed that Jesus is the blessing of God in your life, if you were really hoping for more, perhaps God is not the one with the hidden agenda. Bring your agenda and all your hopes and dreams before him. He will meet you and he will bless you beyond what you can imagine.

Promise Keeper, I’m grateful for your many blessings, but I will not worship them by requiring them. You are the blessing I must have, the one I must worship. Jesus is mine! You have blessed me abundantly in Jesus!

DIGGING DEEPER