Hi
So today I want to talk about something that is real to a lot of us at some point in our lives if we are going to be honest and real. Something to be honest I rarely hear addressed and that subtly eats away in our hearts at our ability to take God at His Word and be patient as we walk in our journey of life.
To describe it in a single word would be to just say jealousy but I fear we live in a denialist culture where the moment I do that I may disconnect from the very ones who may need to hear this. So in my attempt at euphemism; I will describe what I truly believe is a feeling we at some or another have had: an overwhelming sense of seeing someone else’s life, the beautiful spouse who has an amazing heart they have married, their high paying job with benefits, their house that they live in or the recognition that they would have achieved and having the sick feeling in your gut that says “That should be me.”
The feeling in your heart that feels as though what that person got is the only thing of its kind there is; a sensation where them being blessed subtly means you can’t as well and a feeling of either hopelessness or rage that then accompanies. That time when you worked really hard on your report; but someone else got the recognition; or when you worked so hard for a result but a naturally more talented kid won the price anyway and you maybe asked in your heart, why that can’t be me.
I could go on, but the gist of my story by now I am sure you understand. Its a sense that if they got it, then I can’t and therefore I have been sucker-punched. To be honest, I sort of get where this comes from. We live in a world with finite resources, the land, the gold, the sea, the day and the night all have their boundary. Existentially, they are bound by limits and often we have grown up so accustomed to the limits and the boundaries that it has transferred into how we see everything; blessings, promotion, lifting up and increase to the point where if it happens to someone else, then it means to us it cannot happen as well for we have erected boundaries in our minds as to how these things must go. Tragically for the believer though, this is a cruel lie to live under as within you and with you lies a power to effect lasting change not unlike a thirsty man aching for a drink but whose feet straddle in water. It has been said a jealous Christian does not know who they are and sadly, this is true.
As believers, privileged with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we have the wisest, the richest, the strongest and the most loving of personal counsel. He knows all the resources in the world and where they are; He knows where and when to put you for amazing increase. In a single day, in the time of Moses, the Israelites went from being slaves to possessing most of the gold of the land-gold which for all the time they were in the desert, they had no need of. In a single day, David went from some unknown shepherd boy to the fiancee of the King, a man exempt from tax for life and with additional reward. In a single day, Joseph went from the prison to the palace and I could go on with these examples; Gidean, Paul, Hezekiah, the redemption story of Samson, Isaac and so many more. All of whom at one point or another went through difficulty, and for some around them, was a picture of blessing and prosperity that for a while they were not a part of. The result though at the end was increase; growth and an amazing testimony for like the Psalmist says, “I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor their children beg for bread.” Because this end result, the lifting up and the transformation of life from ashes to beauty, from mourning to joy is inevitable; it will not fail if we only trust.
The reasons for the present distress, I do not know. Maybe with some it is a simple need to grow up; no wise parent gives a child unlimited car access at 8 years of age and that is the reality of it. If one is a child, they remain like a servant though they may be legally the true heir to it and there is no sweet talking it. If you are immature, not growing in the fruit of the spirit or even interested in growing up, by all means please: give us a break with the whining and just do. It maybe there is an attack on one by the Devil, and these too has Biblical precedent. I don’t consider myself to be well versed in Hebrew or Greek or other cool stuff like that so I won’t try to go beyond what I understand. Because as far as I am aware, there are at least 2 Biblical precedents of this happening. The first with Daniel, whose prayer was fought for and prevented from being answered by evil forces, the second being that of Job, whose own fears became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe it maybe something else, I don’t know. But either way, whatever reason there may be; there is one solution to every man.
And that is to walk hand in hand with the Spirit, with Jesus, to trust His love, His Counsel and grace and to take it one step at a time; doing what He says must be done every step of the way. Because soon, you will find yourself a mountain conqueror and a giant slayer, a victor walking in the grace and exceeding prosperity of the Lord. And because of this very true eager and earnest expectation that will invariably become a reality, the next time you see another man’s blessing, celebrate with them what the Lord has done. Be glad and happy for them, rejoice for in no way is this taking from you. The Lord has more than enough to give all of us to the point where we do not know what to do with the extra. He is that abundant.
So again my friends, I adjure you, at another man’s blessing rejoice and bless God with them. Yours is on the way.
Selah