The wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down on the wise man, but his strong foundation kept his house secure. The foolish man built on sand, and of course when the rains came down, his house was washed away.
But it was the next verse that really got my attention. I know I must have sung it many times when I was young, but the words pricked me as though I had never heard them before. "So build your life on The Lord Jesus Christ...and the blessings will come down. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up..." I don't know why I have been so internally cynical lately, but I instantly thought, "Really?! Is that really true? Should I be teaching my daughter that blessings will automatically fill her life when she builds on the the solid rock of Christ?" I know those thoughts sound nothing like thoughts that would emanate from an apparently solid, church-going mom, who spends time each day teaching her children memory verses and singing praise choruses. But doubts do creep into the minds of all of us, I would imagine. Sometimes there are seasons of life where we have to look closely to find tangibles we have been trained to believe are blessings, the undeniable pleasant things, and it is in these seasons that my mind is especially vulnerable to cynical doubt. So I mulled the question I posed to myself for most of the day. That night, my husband and I were talking about a difficult area in our life and he reminded me of a verse we had claimed as our own earlier this year. "‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again, according to the word of the Lord." (1 Kings 12:24 ESV)
Not such an immediately impacting verse, I know, so a little background might be needed. God was speaking to the Israelites as they faced a future that was sure to be filled with near slave labor. Solomen had died, and his foolish son had been approached by the people as they begged for their strenuous workload to be lightened. Rather than hearing their pleas with compassion and wisdom, he consulted his young and arrogant friends who advised him to demonstrate his strength as king by increasing their work. He relayed that message to the people, and they promptly rebelled, leaving Rehoboam as king only over one of the twelve tribes. The kingdom was split due to his foolishness, but this was not to the liking of the new king. He assembled men and chariots and prepared to fight his countrymen, to regain the throne over the entirety of Israel until...God told him not to. And He didn't just tell him to stand down. He affirmed his sovereignty and his goodness by proclaiming, "this thing is from me." Stunning to imagine that God would take credit for a rebellion in the midst of His people, almost a civil war. Stunning to see that He acknowledges control of events in the history of His chosen people that seem anything but good. Yet, God clearly had a plan and a greater blessing for humanity than anyone in that day could comprehend when he spoke to Rehoboam. His tapestry of blessing-His self-revelation to mankind was just beginning. "This thing is from me."
That is where I made the connection to the kindergarten Bible song. Blessings. Do I have even a rudimentary understanding of what a true blessing is? Am I focused on those things that I have decided are good for me? The things that will work towards a purpose in my life I have deemed desirable, and that I can forsee will bring out a happy conclusion? Have I even acknowledged that God's definition of what is good, what is beneficial to me, what is a blessing may not always coincide with mine. And when the two definitions do not seem to be in sync, God's definition is the true one. The one that counts. "You are good..." -Psalm 119:68. The standard of goodness and blessing itself. Not my infantile understanding of those words. He knows. He gives His children blessings that may appear to be struggle and heartache on the surface, but in the tapestry of His sovereign will, they are goodness defined. Yes, I can teach my little girl that as the prayers go up, the blessings come down. Because when I pray for God's will, I open my heart to receive His blessing-the ultimate blessing of playing a role in glorifying Him-but also in receiving daily blessings straight from His hand.
"I believe in a blessing I don't understand,
I've seen rain fall on the wicked and the just
Rain is no measure of His faithfulness
He withholds no good thing from us."
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