A Closer Walk
Too many blessings? A farmer friend related recently that part of his corn crop did not produce roots because of too much rain. In the Bible rain often signifies God's blessing. Here is an example: "The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in the season and to bless all the work of your hand...," Deuteronomy 28:12 NASB. God will open for us His good storehouse, the heavens, and give rain to our land. This will bless the work of our hands.
How does rain bless the work of our hands? Every job, every industry, depends on some type of natural resource. The carpenter works with wood, the welder works with metal, and so on. In the more creative or artistic endeavors the natural resource may be us. In every and all industries our talent, our labor, and our creativity come into play in making a painting, designing a building or a car, preparing a great meal, or preparing someone's taxes. Producing crops and livestock also requires talent, labor, and creativity. We all work with or on something. For example, without trees to produce lumber, the carpenter is out of business. So rain blesses the work of our hands by providing necessary water for the natural resources we rely on, including us.
Years ago as a young man I heard an old timer say, “You never turn down rain in Kansas.” Over the years since, that statement has pretty much been proven true. There are times when the farm ponds are down to almost dry ground. Other times the ponds are full to overflowing. Either way we welcome the rain every time our Lord chooses to provide it because the rain ultimately blesses the work of our hands. If we don't need the rain now, it will help to fill the ponds, the creeks, and the rivers. The creeks and rivers feed our reservoirs and ultimately our underground aquifers. All of these things basically amount to our water savings account, so to speak. It's there if we need it.
The farmer friend mentioned above had a smaller corn crop than he probably otherwise would have because of too much rain. But the rain he received but didn't need could turn into a blessing next year for the next crop planted on that piece of land. Because the land was well watered this year it might produce a bigger than usual crop next year, even with less rain.
The part of my farmer friend's corn crop that did not produce roots because of too much rain couldn't bear fruit. It had no roots to draw nourishment from. Isn't it the same with us? If everything is going well, and we have very little to pray about, don't we tend to ignore our own root development? Don't we tend to slack off and not pray as often as we should? If the circumstances of our life seem to be favorable to us, don't we tend to neglect our Bible reading and personal study? We may neglect our own roots if our blessings abound.
So, is it possible to receive too many blessings? Can our God be too good to us? Ever had a time when you prayed, “Please Lord, no more blessings?”
“The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and walk in His ways...And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand...”, Deuteronomy 28:8-9, 11-12 NASB. Praise the Lord!