Here’s a question to think about: What’s the best thing that’s happened to you in the last five years? What would be your answer? Would you be able to list off a whole load of blessings? Or would you struggle to think of anything at all? God’s Word promises us daily blessings, yet sometimes we can struggle to even think of one good thing that’s happened to us. Psalm 68 says: ‘Praise the Lord; praise God our saviour! For each day he carries us in his arms’ (v.19 NLT). Every day God is with us; each day His mercies are new (take a look at Lamentations 3:22-23). The Bible says, ‘All these blessings will come upon you…if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and…in the country…You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated…They will come at you from one direction but flee…in seven…The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity…The Lord will make you the head, not the tail’ (Deuteronomy 28:2-13 NIV). Verse 2 says ‘if you obey the Lord.’ God’s love is guaranteed and unconditional. But His blessings require cooperation on our part. We need to be walking in line with Him. We need to be reading His Word and obeying what He tells us. But our hearts are important too. We can’t make God bless us by doing our best to obey everything and be as Christlike as possible. We should be obedient because we want to follow Jesus and live like Him. The blessings are just an extra. We’ve already got God’s love and salvation – and they’re the biggest blessings we could possibly have.
