Far too many people think that somehow if we “have enough faith” we can boss God around the universe. You hear stories from time to time, including from the pulpit, about people who essentially “had enough faith” that they got exactly what they wanted. It sort of implies that people who don’t get their prayers answered have less faith, and it kind of implies that we have a say in what we get and when we get it if we just have “enough” faith. That’s what JG Wentworth offers us. He tells us that “They’re your blessings; use them when you need them”. Of course, it comes at a cost if it works. All blessings are predicated on obedience to the laws to which they are associated. Unless your faith is as Christ taught, it’s not faith; it’s wishful thinking.
The Period of Waiting. Some blessings have timing facets. There is no point in blessing you with a spouse if you are 12. There is no point blessing you with a lot of money if you are not in a place where you can put it to good use. The children of Israel were not allowed to enter the Land of Promise until forty years in Sinai, but Sinai can be crossed in a matter of days if you know where to go, even on foot. In Egypt, Joseph prophesied that they had seven years to prepare for famine and that if they spent the time well they would survive.
The Period of Suffering. Often blessings don’t come immediately because we would not appreciate them. The woman that grabbed Christ’s robes had been inflicted for YEARS with a blood issue. It was dramatic to her because she had been living with it so long that her faith was ready to be validated. If we got everything we wanted when we wanted it just for the asking, we would become dependent on God and just ask Him whenever things arose to complicate our lives. The suffering invites us to be submissive to God’s will and timing.
The Period of Action. Most blessings and miracles seem to come only when we follow God’s direction. Far too many people flaunt God’s commandments and then get upset when He ignores theirs. Naaman of Syria was very disappointed that, in order to be healed, he had to bathe in the Jordan River when his own country had better rivers. The Red Sea didn’t part until Moses put his foot into the water. Even the lepers cleansed by Christ were only healed when they followed His instructions to go shew themselves to the priests.
My point in all of this is that blessings do not come, answers are not had on the JG Wentworth theory. We don’t own the blessings; we don’t control the timing. We are not gods, and all that we have comes because God says let it be done. I don’t know why He makes us wait. I just know that sometimes He makes me wait longer than I like for things I know that I deserve. It took two years to find a new dog, but when Courage came, he was perfect. Maybe like I have you have prayed for years and not seen rescue. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. CS Lewis wrote that many of God’s best children have gone through longer and deeper trough periods than anyone else.
The world concludes, erroneously, that if you are not being blessed you must be evil. Job’s friends did the same thing. They concluded that he must have offended God and that this was the reason why God allowed the devil to deprive him of everything. Then we know God arrives and says, “Who is this that darkeneth counsels by words without knowledge? Arise, gird up thy loins and answer thou me.” It is a cruel lie that the blessed are righteous and that the unblessed are wicked, but the world always construes according to its wits. Not attempting and not succeeding may look the same in the end, but they take very different paths. If you judge only on the outcomes you will MISS THE MARK. It is easy to feel that God is ignoring you because He doesn’t bless you the way you want in the timing you prefer. That is not the way of faithfulness, and we know that those who see signs often wane in faith immediately after the signs end. How many people stopped following Christ when He stopped feeding them?
The faithful are always vindicated in the end. If you are not blessed yet, it’s not the end. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark. There were no storm clouds in the sky when Elijah called down fire. Mideon had a giant army; Gideon’s 300 men had God. Abraham’s wife was over 90 when she finally got pregnant. Jericho was impregnable until Israel shouted. Obedience is tough. Faith is tough. Often it’s difficult to see where the road may lead. Israel was reticent to follow Moses into the desert, but they reached a Land of Promise. None of these people were wicked, but they had to wait a long time before they say the blessings, and you may also find yourself wandering in a wilderness of Sin waiting to arrive in your Land of Promise.
If you’re not getting blessed, hold on a little longer, and I promise the light will come. I say this, and I have never been promoted, I have never found a wonderful woman who loves me and appreciates my love, and I am just a Sunday School instructor at church. I run a 5K or more every day, and I’m still fat. I have not reaped what I have sown, but I still believe that God will bless me. I believe He will bless you too. CS Lewis wrote that the devil’s cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring but still intending to do God’s will, looks around at a world from which all sign of Him seems to have disappeared, asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
My beagle is a sign that God has neither forgotten nor forsaken me. I don’t think it’s an accident that his previous owners named him Courage. God told me to “take courage”. And Courage crawled into my lap when he first met me and was comfortable. I have someone who is always glad to see me and who doesn’t care that I’m not rich or hot or of status. He just cares how I treat him.
If you’re not getting blessings, continue to have faith. Sometimes when you are walking in the dark, you can only move forward so quickly because the lamp you carry doesn’t light everything everywhere. Just step forward and find the path lit a few more steps in front of you. Remember the last Indiana jones movie where he reaches a chasm without a bridge and realizes that “Only in a leap from the lion’s head can he prove his worth”. Sometimes a leap of faith is required. It’s not a single second. It’s about whether or not you are ready to leap. One of my religion instructors told us once to act in faith and trust that God will stop you if you are headed in the wrong direction. Thermodynamics teaches us that objects in motion are easier to change direction than objects at rest. Eventually, either you will arrive in your land of promise or find God change the vector of your actions to somewhere that bears fruit.
I don’t know what God has for me. But I know it will be spectacular. It just might not be what I prefer. I know God loves us. I know He will bless us. I don’t know how or when or with what, but a loving God in the end will bless you with everything you have earned and everything He possibly can.
