When Scripture says someone is old and advanced in age, you can be sure it means that his or her time is drawing near and that was indeed the case with Abraham. Overall life had been good for him. The text says, “…the Lord had blessed (him) in every way.” As I pen these words, I find myself in my sixty-second year of life. My wife of over 37 years is sitting in our den reading. Down the street my younger daughter and her husband are relaxing together, having put their three young children to bed. My youngest child and only son who lives in the city has finished work and is spending the evening with friends after making plans with us to go to the re-opening of our Art Gallery tomorrow. My oldest daughter, her husband, and two energetic young boys are swimming in their pool in South Carolina after talking to us about our trip to see them next week. Currently, everybody’s health is good. There is food on the table for all of us. And we all worship and serve God freely in our two countries of North America. Everyone that needs to be is employed. In short, even though I know I have neither deserved it for my past, nor deserve it now, God has blessed me.
I stop and think about my readers and I wonder how different ones would react to that. Some would, I believe, place themselves in a similar boat as I am in. Others could well say, “That’s easy for him to say. That’s not my experience.” And it may very well not be. But then I wonder whether the cause of the difference is indeed the circumstances or the person perceiving them. I know of people in similar circumstances as those I am in but much wealthier who do not consider themselves blessed at all. I know of others who have had many more struggles, have suffered incredible losses of all sorts including loved ones, and are depending on God daily for their survival, that consider themselves incredibly blessed. I have also reflected on some very difficult times in my own life – when I lost my mother just after our third child was born; when I slipped away from God and did my own thing; when I lost my dad to cancer; when I had to deal with my own cancer; and when my son separated from his wife, to name a few. I remember distinctly that at no time during those periods did I feel anything but blessed. Even in my sin I felt blessed, as God pulled me out of the trash and restored me to Himself.
Abraham was indeed a man who loved God and wanted to serve Him. And God blessed him. I believe God still does that today for those that love Him and want to serve Him. He does not always make us rich, our healthy, or famous – but He blesses us in ways that make a difference. He makes us content and give us peace and comfort and understanding and wisdom and patience and so much more. There’s something about loving God and serving Him that turns on the “internal blessings” tap.
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