December 13 Blessings
“To human hearts the blessings”
Pray
Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto You, my God, for You have blessed me with the peace that passes understanding, an inheritance that will never fade away. Amen.
Read – Deuteronomy 30:19
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”
Reflect
In the wilderness, the Israelites cried out to Moses, and Moses cried out to God, and God answered. Manna, a “bread” that seemed to fall from heaven, assuaged their hunger. For a time, at least, they were satisfied. God had met their temporal needs; they considered themselves to be blessed.
Just as He provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, God provides for us today. The gifts of the natural world, the timely provision of food, clothing, and shelter – these are blessings that come, ultimately, from the hand of God. Most of us can look back on a time during our lives when we were unquestionably blessed.
It is not wrong to remember these times with thanksgiving. However, when the Bible talks about blessings it is, more often than not, speaking of the spiritual not the material realm. Manna in the wilderness is one thing, but the presence of God is another. Water, flowing from a rock in a desert place, may quench our thirst, it is a blessing, but it cannot compare to the living water that is Christ’s gift. Material blessings fade, like manna that will not keep for more than a day; but spiritual blessings are eternal. To know the precious gift of peace with God is a blessing that will see you through any trial and give you strength, even in the face of tragedy and death. It is in this sense that Jesus is a blessing from heaven. He could have made bread from the stones, but the hunger would have returned. Instead, He gave Himself, the Bread of Life, so that those who knew His blessing would never be hungry again.
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