How God blesses the Faithful
God has been teaching me a lot over the last several weeks, including patience and endurance. But one of the main things He's been teaching me is how God blesses the faithful and curses the unfaithful. These are things I've noticed in my own life recently, and I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and concerns.
If you're faithful to God
If you follow God's law and faithfully worship Him, here are some of the ways He blesses you:
- You delight to do His will and to be in His Word. You rejoice in it, faithfully read it, and are convicted to read it daily.
- You delight to pray. It's like a snowball: the more you pray, the more you're led to pray, and the more you're taught to pray.
- You delight in public worship, in the communion, and in coming to worship the Lord on His day.
- You love and care for your brothers and sisters. That goes beyond worshiping with them on Sunday morning. It's checking in on them during the week, asking how you can pray for them and praying with them, doing things that aren't comfortable (like unloading a truck for someone), and hearing their needs.
- You become wise in leading and humble in following. You can humbly follow those God has put in authority over you without being weak, and you're wise in leading, applying the principles of Scripture wherever you're called to lead.
- People gather to you. Because of that humility and wisdom, people come to you for friendship and counsel.
- You're trusted and respected. People can rely on you and lean on you in their trials.
Here's where I'd especially like your thoughts: is this the prosperity gospel? I don't think so. I think it's the gospel itself. If God gives you wisdom, you're also able to make good financial decisions. That's not always the case, of course. Not everybody is or can be wealthy; look at Job, who lost everything. As we saw in Jeremiah Burroughs's Contentment, Prosperity, and God's Glory, whatever our position, we're to be content in poverty and give glory to God in prosperity alike. But I think we can and will be blessed by God as we serve Him.
"Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded" (Proverbs 13:13). That reward may come here on earth, or it may come in heaven, but those who worship and delight in God will be rewarded eternally. Proverbs 24 says the same: "By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches" (vv. 3–4). That wisdom and knowledge come from the Word of God and the Spirit of God dwelling in your heart.
If you harden your heart against Him
- You reap judgment on yourself. God will not clear the guilty on judgment day. You're sowing the seeds of judgment in your life.
- Godly people will turn away from you. "Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them" (Proverbs 24:1). As you turn away from the Lord, rightly, godly people will turn away from you.
- You're unreliable. You don't stand on the consistency of God's Word, so how can anyone depend on you in their time of difficulty?
- You have no peace. "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked" (Isaiah 48:22). If you want to be free of anxiety and fear, you have to turn to the Lord. Peace doesn't exist outside of Him.
- You fall into calamity. "Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity" (Proverbs 28:14). Everything the wicked do falls apart, like a fallen tower.
- In the end, you come to nothing. Your financial success, friendships, connections, business, house and cars all come to nothing, because you die and can't take them with you. But for those whose faith is in Christ, their treasure is in heaven, and it will be there when they arrive.
So, brothers and sisters
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths... Fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones" (Proverbs 3:5–8).
If you're following God faithfully, keep going. At my church we just reached Acts 18, where the Lord says to Paul in a vision, while he's facing persecution, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent" (v. 9). That was a vision to Paul, but the principle still applies: go on doing what you know to do. Read your Bible, pray, keep going to church, keep fellowshipping with believers, and He'll keep blessing you, whether in this life or in heaven.
And if you've turned your back on Him, turn to the Lord, for He is faithful and just to forgive your sins. As Robert Traill reminds us in his sermons on The Throne of Grace (in his Works), we can approach boldly, because we have a great High Priest whose name is love.
Soli Deo Gloria!
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