The Place of God's Abundant Blessings

You might want to read Genesis 12 and 26:1-17 before reading this article.

Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him… (Gen. 12:1-4)

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws." So Isaac lived in Gerar. (Gen. 26:1-6)

In these two accounts we see a father and his son both enjoying tremendous blessings from the Lord. It is written of Abraham that he was “very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.” (Gen. 13:1), and Isaac also “became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy;” (Gen. 26:13).

Sounds great, right? Hook me up with some of that! I mean, who doesn’t want that level of blessing in their life?!? So what’s the deal here? Is this something God decided to do just for these two lucky guys, or are there some principles here that we can learn and apply to our lives, and maybe get ourselves on this heavenly gravy train?

There are at least two things that the Spirit highlighted for me as I contemplated these passages. The first has to do with the way the Lord communicates His plans. Notice that His promises to both Abraham and Isaac all start with the blessings they will personally receive and enjoy:

“I will make you a great nation”

“I will bless you”

“I will make your name great”

“I will be with you and bless you”

“I will give all these lands to you”

“I will multiply your descendants”

I’m convinced He did this to get their attention. Let’s face it…we’re a pretty selfish bunch, so our first response is usually, “What’s in it for me?” Funny thing, though, it seems the Lord is not at all afraid to start on that level with us…He deals with us right where we are, and we can see that in the lives of Abraham and Isaac.

And it’s the same thing today…the Lord has made hundreds of amazing promises in His word, and we believers love to learn and quote the ones that deal with His blessings in our lives. We pray, confess, declare, prophesy and believe for these things. And because of our self-centered tendencies, we do tend to fixate on the things that relate to us, our situation, our needs, our wants, etc. But, unfortunately, all too often that’s where we stop. We rarely see the bigger picture that reveals why the Lord promises to bless us so much. If we would simply continue listening or reading, we’d find out what’s really important: that which matters most to Him.

In the case of Abraham and Isaac, He goes on to say:

“You shall be a blessing”

“I will bless those who bless you”

“In you all the families of the earth will be blessed”

“To your descendants I will give all these lands”

“By your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”

Do you see it? God blessed Abraham and Isaac abundantly so they could, in turn, become a blessing to others, and through their descendants they’d end up blessing the entire world! That was His grand purpose behind choosing and blessing Abraham and his descendants…to have a people through whom He could bless all of mankind. The most important promises here were not the first ones in His speech…the most important ones were at the end! So maybe we better start paying attention so we’ll hear everything we’re supposed to…

Jesus strongly reinforced this principle in His last teaching to His disciples in Matthew 25. When you know you’re about to die, as Jesus did, you tend to focus on whatever you believe is most important for people to understand before you go. In this passage He emphasized our need to remain filled with the Spirit and live in intimacy with Father (wise & foolish virgins), our responsibility to effectively use the gifts and resources He’s entrusted us with (the talents), and finally, the crucial importance of living lives of compassionate care for those who are not yet experiencing the blessings of a relationship with the Lord (sheep & goats).

It’s the same pattern as before: He starts with us personally and moves ever outward till we are touching the entire globe. Our intimacy with Father gives Him freedom to lead us into becoming effective stewards of His blessings, which then positions us to receive even more blessings to share as He directs.

Which brings us to the second principle highlighted in these stories:

“So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him…” (Gen. 12:4)

“So Isaac lived in Gerar.” (Gen. 26:6)

Both men were obedient to the Lord. They willingly chose to cooperate with, and participate in, the Lord’s master plan for mankind and the earth. They clearly saw the bigger picture, and reaped the benefits. They saw themselves as part of something bigger than themselves.

This is the big lesson for us today as well. The Lord truly wants to bless us with abundance, but not just to satisfy our selfish desires. Paul eloquently exhorts us to:

Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say,

“They share freely and give generously to the poor.

Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. [emphasis mine] (2 Cor. 9:6-11)

So how about it? Instead of continuously striving to get on the gravy train, maybe you should consider moving towards becoming a “heavenly distribution center!” Can you see yourself as part of His master plan to bring all mankind into His family? Are you willing to recognize that the blessings you’ve been given are not really yours to hoard, but are meant to be shared in ways that will further His kingdom purposes?

If so, then you will definitely find yourself moving towards the place where God’s blessings can be poured out for you as abundantly as they were for Abraham and Isaac. Bottom line, all you and I “own” isn’t really ours—it’s His because He made it. And because it’s His, He has the absolute right to tell us what to do with it. The big question is, “Are we listening and obeying?”

As we start a new year, take some time to inventory your life, your finances, and your “stuff.” Are you giving financially where He wants you to? In the amounts He wants you to? Do you have things you really don’t use or need that could be put to good use by others less blessed than you? What if He told you to give away something you really enjoy having, would you?

The truth is, the harder we hold on to these material things, the harder it is for the Lord to entrust us with anything more than we presently have. In my own life I’ve been trying to obey the Lord and shift my giving into areas He shows me. Right now my wife and I support several ministries that directly serve the poor: in Brazil (www.corredoresdoreino.org.br), New York City (www.streetlife.org), and Myanmar (www.orphanstear.org). I’ll be sharing more information about these in the months ahead. For 2007, my goal is to aggressively identify items in our home that can be donated to people and the appropriate agencies that serve them.

Will you join me in this? Share your story of what the Lord’s been showing you in this area, and let’s encourage one another to become excellent managers of the Lord’s property, which He has temporarily placed in our care.

Proverbs 15:6 says, “Great wealth is in the house of the righteous, but trouble is in the income of the wicked.” May the Lord move us quickly into the place where He can bless us abundantly, because He sees we are committed to being righteous in what we do with that abundance!