Sunday, June 14, 2009

Hearts Bent Towards God

“The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands.” Deuteronomy 28:12.

My two oldest children always say that my baby girl, Caroline, is spoiled because growing up she was allowed many privileges and “blessings”. The truth of the matter is that Caroline had a heart bent towards pleasing us, obeying us and searching our will for her as parents. As a result, we gave her many privileges surrounding trust, and knew she would know how to handle those privileges. We also rewarded her hard work and selfless acts of kindness and compassion in the manner which she treated others.

Knowing her heart was essential in giving her certain blessings and privileges. (There was a summer between her 10th and 11th grade that this was shut down!) As parents we hand out privileges based on where our children’s heart, mind and actions lie and pull back if we see their inability to handle certain things.

God is no different with His children as He searches and knows our heart, and is able to discern what blessings we can handle in our particular season in life. He shares the bounty He has stored up for us but sends rain upon our lives in certain seasons to grow and prepare us for future blessings. When His work is complete in us in one season, His blessings will follow as a reward for trusting Him, obeying Him, and serving Him apart from what our season brings.

As we pull away from Him in certain seasons, He holds back certain blessings until our hearts return to Him and our focus serves His purpose for our lives. Each of us has our own “storehouse” reserved for us but only the Father knows when we are ready to receive.

We do not obey in an effort to receive but we receive as a result of how well we obey.

No comments: