Blessings May Not Be Stored

"If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.” (Mal 2:2 AV)

 

Sorry to end the year on a negative note, but the Spirit impressed upon me the underlined portion of the verse above.  When we think of this past year, we do not think of 2020 as a year of blessings.  There have been many things lost.  We have lost some to a disease that did not have to make it to our shores.  We lost peace and brotherly kindness.  We lost hope for religious liberty in the near future.  We lost election integrity and the damage from this will last until the LORD comes back. We lost finances.  We lost businesses.  We lost jobs.  In our churches, we have lost attendance.  We lost ministry.  We lost the zeal we once had because too many things changed all at once.  This past year was a year of lost blessings.  What struck me about the underlined verse is blessings from obedience can be lost by disobedience.  We know that, but we have a hard time internalizing it and remembering it.  We think of blessings as a plus that can be stored up for times of desire or need.  Like Joseph who gathered the plenty of Egypt for seven years to provide for the seven years of famine.  We think we can bank our blessings against times of disobedience.  But that is not how God works.  We lose what we have gained when we step out on the LORD.

I am a bit of a risk-taker in certain areas of life.  Years ago, my wife and I set up a retirement fund.  We met with a personal banker at the bank in which she worked.  He took his time explaining how different options worked.  He explained how within options there were more options.  Then, our advisor had us take this random survey that had nothing to do with finances, per se.  At least it seemed random.  The test was an assessment of our risk tolerance.  Knowing what the test was about, I probably didn’t answer the survey completely accurately.  After completing the survey, the advisor looked at our results.  I scored a moderate risk-taker.  However, as the advisor was instructing us more and more, and following up with more and more questions, I found myself becoming an extreme risk-taker.  I figured with the way the government is going, and the fact finances of the elderly are usually confiscated for state-run care, why would I want to take the safest way to accumulate savings with minimal risk when it won’t stay in my hands anyway.  So, I opted for the highest risk package available.  The blessings of life were invested in something determined by someone else’s talents and control.  They would take my money and aggressively invest it.  Hopefully, I would make out.  The thing is, there are no guarantees.  My blessings are always in the hands of someone I cannot see who is working on my behalf.

We see those things which we have accrued as a savings account.  As long as we do not withdraw, then the balance slowly increases.  There is no risk involved.  Even the institution in which we have placed our savings is insured by federal statute.  It is a win-win.  But not with God.  God blesses us when we walk in obedience and faith.  He is not obligated to allow us the pleasure of blessings bestowed in times of obedience of our obedience is turned to disobedience.  This may not seem fair.  If we earned a day's wages, are we not expecting to keep that day’s wages even if we quit the next day?  To finish where we started, the LORD is not obligated to allow our nation to enjoy the blessings He bestowed upon us because we began as a Christian nation.  We have repeatedly turned our back on Him.  We call murder and perversion legal activities when two generations ago, we would not have conceived such an idea.  We are seeing the systematic loss of the blessings of God because we have chosen the spirit of the world.  The spirit of humanism and secularism.  This cannot end well.  Unless this nation turns its heart back to God, there will only be one loss after another until there is nothing left.