Blessings of the Lord

May you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth".( Ps. 115:15) "You are blessed because you believe what the Lord has said".( Luke 1:45)

Blessed. Now that is an interesting word. What does that really mean? I know what it means to me. In my mind I will have everything I need plus more. My finances will be plentiful, my family will be well, my health will be strong. You know, all the things. But what does it mean to God? What is His definition? There are a lot of promises in the Bible that if you do this or that then you will be blessed. Your children will be blessed. But really? Because let me tell you that there are a lot of times when I have followed God, obeyed God, did what He said, and I did NOT feel blessed.

The other night I was having a conversation with a friend. We both love God very deeply and have pursued Him passionately throughout our lives. As she began to share with me what she has been struggling with recently, I could definitely relate to her. She shared about the many hardships that she and her family are going through right now. A few were situations where she had sought God and heard God and obeyed what she believed that He was telling her to do. She obeyed out of her heart, believing God and that He intended good in her life; that He would bless her. But she certainly didn't feel blessed because many of her issues were a direct result of her following God. 

So we talked. I asked the question, "Where in the Bible do we see that people who followed God had it easy? Where do we see that they felt blessed? There is example after example. The Israelites certainly followed God to the 'Promised Land", miraculously crossed the Red Sea, saw all of their enemies killed and then ended up in the desert. Was this the blessing? Was this the Promised Land? Think about Mary. "Blessed are you among women... Luke 1:45 I don't think that Mary felt blessed when she fled to Egypt, watched her son being persecuted and then executed on a cross. We can go on and on, but what person in the Bible who followed God led a nice, easy and 'blessed' life by our definition? It is indeed a question worth asking.

I am not sure that I have the answer to that. This is the journey that I am on. But I am curious, what is God's definition of blessed? What does He mean when he says that? 

My ultimate passion is to know God more. So much so that I trust Him completely and have faith in him complicity. I want to never doubt Him and always believe what He says because I know Him. I want to always be at peace and walk in the joy of the Lord. So, is that the blessing? Is that what God means when He says 'blessed are you'? Maybe all of these hardships and trials that come as a result of us following Him are Him LEADING us to the blessing. Maybe the blessing is knowing Him better and more completely. And when He tells us that we are blessed or will be blessed He is really saying, "this is the way. Come this way to the blessing. To your heart's desire.