Blessings & Burdens

See, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse.  Deuteronomy 11:26
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We just love options and choices don’t we! It’s human nature to shop for the most features at the best price and snatching up the best deal is our quest. Whether we’re shopping for groceries, shoes or supplies we often spend precious time trying to make an informed choice but this verse from Deuteronomy reminds us we don’t always get a choice.  God made it pretty clear in this short verse that we would get both.  I love those words, I set before you, as if both are desirable and appealingly presented.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could say, “Thanks God for offering both but I’ll take a hard pass on the curse and a double helping of the blessing.”  We get a little stuck thinking about both in a positive way because we suffer from “option-itis” or constantly searching for the option that perfectly suits our needs, wants and desires in the most convenient fashion.

I think what this little nugget of Old Testament wisdom is teaching us is that life is a mix of both…there is no option for blessings only.  He is the giver and guider and navigator of both.  He’s offering them to lead us to heaven which is a journey that will require the lessons learned from the great stuff and the awful stuff.  Blessings are easy to understand and lovely to focus on, but the curse or burdens are what most often truly drop us to our knees clinging to our faith.  All of it is a gift even if it isn’t what we ordered or wanted.  Sickness, financial crisis, grief and family turmoil certainly don’t seem like a very good gift, but He is in them which makes them a vehicle to holiness.  The presence of blessings and burdens is so real in our lives and together they lead us to eternal life which is also real!  Jesus didn’t speak of heaven as a mystical place, he spoke of it as our home.  The next time you’re in the middle of a blessing or a burden, remember the Father is right there with you, and here are the things he’s doing for us in the midst of both:

*Healing:  the burdens give us the chance to invite him in and the blessings show us where he’s been touching us with his mercy and compassion. As he leads us from burdens to blessings, we have a chance to be touched by his fanciness!
*The burdens connect us to the suffering of Jesus which was the ultimate sign of love…suffering isn’t about “repaying” Jesus for his suffering, rather it’s connecting our hard to his and sharing his strength and ultimately salvation.
*Character building:  We grow in gratitude, prayerfulness and surrender.  Burdens allow us to strengthen our obedience muscles and our surrender muscles.  They help us grow in trust and help us see with Christ’s eyes and learn to mimic his attitudes and actions.
*They restore hope and remind us to cling to Jesus:  As the Lord walks us through our burdens and shines a light on our blessings, we realize he knows everything, can conquer anything and can be trusted to love, lead and sustain us always.
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A longing heart looks for God in both the blessings and the burdens.  He gets it, if we’re way more enthusiastic about embracing the blessings than the burdens but we have to have the courage to say YES to both and that means we won’t always know WHAT we’re saying yes to, but we certainly know WHO we’re saying yes to…and knowing that, is enough to get a good start on your journey home.

A Seed To Plant: Make a list of all of the blessings and burdens you’re experienced this year and prayerfully ponder where you’ve seen and where you need Christ.

Blessings on your day