I am truly blessed!

King David said it with such straightforward certainty:  "For You, O Lord God, have spoken, and with Your blessing shall the house of Your servant be blessed forever" (2 Samuel 7:29).  David had just heard through the prophet Nathan of the Lord's plans to bless his family line.  And with no clue regarding the global and eternal implications of that messianic prophetic word, David responded with a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact confidence in God's perpetual blessing on his family.  He took the gift of God's extravagant blessing at face value with a "You said it, I believe it" kind of certainty.

Well, if David could be so unwaveringly sure of such significant blessings after a single prophetic word from Nathan the prophet, then, by God's grace, I ought to be able to walk in a state of continual and absolute certainty of God's promised blessings for my family based on the great work Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross and on all that we know about God from His Word (not to mention all the prophetic words we've received as well)!

Think of it.  I could say, For you, O Lord, have spoken!  Your Word tells me that all of God's promises find their Yes in You, Lord Jesus! (2 Corinthians 1:20).  And that God has rescued me from sin's hold on me, forgiving me for all my wrongs, because every one of them was nailed to the cross on which You died! (Colossians 1:13-14; 2:13-14). And Your Word tells me that because the grave couldn't hold You, You caused me to come alive with You -- to be born again as a new creation! (1 Corinthians 15:22-23; 2 Corinthians 5:17).  And You've promised that God's Spirit will dwell in me as the Spirit of adoption, making me God's son (Romans 8:15) -- "chosen of God, holy and beloved"! (Colossians 3:12).  And that same God has blessed me in You with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).  In fact, Your divine power has provided me with everything I need for life and godliness! (2 Peter 1:3).  Your Word even tells me that God has raised me up with You and seated me with You in heavenly places!  All this so that in the ages to come, God can show me the infinite riches of His grace and kindness that He has expressed through You, Lord Jesus! (Ephesians 2:6-7).  In other words, I should be able to say with David, "with your blessing shall the house of Your servant be blessed forever!"

God has spoken.  It's the truth.  And I believe it.

I realize that the mistake we sometimes make is to make these blessings our focus in place of seeking the loving God who has given them to us.  But to be clear, I believe that "if we don't want God above all things [including "redemption, forgiveness, sanctification, liberation, healing, heaven"], we have not been converted by the Gospel." (John Piper, "God is the Gospel").  But when we, like King David, are people who seek after God's own heart above all else (1 Samuel 13:14), all these promises simply become the myriad of blessings that we're meant to walk in as children of God!  And that's meant to encourage us.  That's why they're called blessings!  Such promises ought to impact how we well we can face the challenges that come our way, as we remember what Jesus has done for us on the cross and realize what living a life of confidence in Him accomplishes in our hearts.

© 2010 by Ken Peters

The one thing to ask for (church bulletin cover)

If you could ask just one thing of God, what would it be? Health? Wealth? For a problem to be solved? Solomon asked for wisdom (2 Samuel 3:5, 9). Bartimaeus asked for his sight (Luke 18:41). David, the man described as a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), asked for something entirely different. David wrote, "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple" (Psalm 27:4).

Which leads me to wonder, what's the value of believing in God and of even committing my whole life to Him if I don't actually adore Him? In other words, is it enough for my mind and my will to be responsive to God, but for my heart to be engaged elsewhere? I don't think so. To suggest otherwise would mean that God preferred mere recruits more than a meaningful relationship with us. The one thing David asked of God was a reflection of what God also desires from us: a deep and personal relationship.

But for David, this was not something to merely ask for and then patiently wait for God to provide. We see in Psalm 28:4 that this was something David wanted enough to seek after it! David wanted intimacy with God. He wanted to dwell in God's house every day of his life. And in doing so, he wanted to behold God's beauty. As I appreciate the passion of this verse, I see a man who seemed so completely mesmerized by God that all he could want was to be close to Him. His delight was solely in God -- his gaze was fixed adoringly on Him -- he was captivated by Him.

I want to share this same longing that David had. I don't want to want anything else as much as I want God. Too often, I whet my appetite with lesser things like big-budget movies or low-budget computer solitaire and then find I have little appetite for God. It's as though I can graze on junk food and then not find a magnificent feast appealing. David saved his appetite for God so that when God said, "Seek My face," David's heart said, "Your face, O Lord, I shall seek" (Psalm 27:8).

What's my answer when the Holy Spirit says, "Seek after God. Read God's Word. Spend time in prayer with your God."? Do I say, "I'm kinda busy right now" or "I don't really feel like it" or "I'm not hungry"? Or do I rush to the table, eager to be with God, in love with Him as my Father and thrilled to be with Him as much as I can? May He be the "one thing" I truly feel that way about! And may I seek Him as eagerly as I ask for His nearness!

© 2009 by Ken Peters