Gifts & Call
Interwoven in our walk of faith are the blessings we receive and the call to glorify God as we become a blessing to others.
“Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out. Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God."
Numbers 10:2, 9-10, 32, 34-36
God gave instructions for how to remember and celebrate the blessings received individually and collectively. He told Moses that the people should sound the trumpets so that they would gather, move, and praise.
Music has drawn people together at concerts, churches, or local taverns. How does connecting our sense of sound help activate the blessing of community? How can sounding the trumpet, or praising, help ingrain in you a heart to remember the blessings of community, provision, and God's guidance?
“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
Psalms 127:1, 3-5
What is a true blessing? Family. David sings of the blessing of children. One of the challenges we face living in a western culture that celebrates the more, more wealth, more possessions, more comfort, more experiences, more power is the way in which we are trained to pursue the blessings that do not satisfy our souls. Increasingly people are waiting to have kids and pursuing other blessings ahead of what God teaches brings deeper meaning to life. Where are you investing your life today? In a blessed quiver?
How much time, emotional energy and focus goes into other pursuits other than having or investing in the blessing of kids? Have you ever allowed work or the pursuit of other desires to interrupt or disrupt focus on family? Why? It is important to acknowledge that some people cannot have kids. For those people, the quiver can still be full as we live in a world in desperate need of people who have a heart to love the unloved.
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink...the Lord will reward you. Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land."
Proverbs 25:2, 15, 21-22, 25, 27
Solomon reveals three blessings. First, there is a blessing where we walk in the unknown and the mystery of life. Part of our what enhances our lives is the dependence we have on God for understanding all that we do not understand. It is better for us that we need God.
Solomon says a free heart is a blessing and the way to freedom is navigating the mine field of offense. Wisdom says bless your enemies. How do you do this? Follow the golden rule. Treat others as you would want to be treated when you are in an a place of need or not the one who deserves a blessing.
Solomon says hope is a blessing. We can bless others as we share the good news that the best is yet to come. How have you shared the good news this week of the blessing of hope that you have through Jesus Christ? How could you share?
“I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel. “After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.”
Ezekiel 4:5-6, 12-17
God says sometimes we delay our blessing. He tells Ezekiel that there is going to be a period longer than the United States has been around of delayed blessing because of disobedience. Peter says that to God a thousand years are like a day and a day are like a thousand years. Time is a deep mystery to those who have such a limited supply of it, but God's timing is perfect.
Is there anywhere you have experienced a delayed blessing? Have you sought the Lord to hear why?
“So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. I take pride in my ministry...God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable...Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Who has ever given to God that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To Him be the glory forever."
Romans 11:5-6, 13-14, 16, 22, 26-29, 32-33, 36
We have a freely given blessing of redemption through the grace of Jesus Christ. It is the gift of God. God blesses us. Have you thought about grace today? Have you felt the burden of feeling like you need to strive so that your performance would satisfy God? Stop, take a deep breath, and receive the truth that you are made right by what Jesus did for you, not by what you have will do. Grace based on works would no longer be grace. Grace is not conditional. It is a blessing as a free gift from God.
We can never repay Jesus for what He has done, is doing, and will do for us. But, we can glorify God by responding to His love and His irrevocable call by passing the blessing. We can pay it forward. Love can produce more love. God's blessing can transform us to become the blessing. He has gifted grace. What will you do with the grace in which you now stand? He calls you by name and has a calling for you. Will you answer?
Will you respond to the blessing by blessing others? Right now, in this moment, consider asking God to put a name, a face, or an idea of who or how you can love someone? If you are struggling with offense, how could you respond with love by helping meet one of their needs without expecting anything in response? Grace gives freely and so can we. You are blessed, loved, gifted and called because of the Gracious God whose blessings never end.