Word of Encouragement (04/26/2023)
And of Dan he said, "Dan is a lion's cub that leaps from Bashan." (Deut. 33:22)
Moses’ blessing on Dan is quite short. Dan is called a lion’s cub that is full of youthful energy. Dan’s territory was not in Bashan, which had a forest. Moses is simply likening Dan to a lion’s cup in Bashan.
The quality of a blessing doesn’t necessarily depend on its length, of course. You can have a short blessing that says what a wonderful king you are going to be; you can have a long blessing that says what kind of servant you will be, for example. I’m not saying that this short blessing on Dan is of the highest quality. But we should not think that, if God should grant us a “short” blessing, it is necessarily bad.
But we should accept that all believers are not entitled to the same “quality” of blessings in this life. Thankfully, we are all blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3ff). The kingdom of heaven is different from the promised land in that everyone receives every blessing in it! It is so abundant in its riches that every blessing in it is available to each of its citizens. What a blessing it is to belong to such a kingdom! We can say that, spiritually speaking, all the blessings that are pronounced on all the tribes are all ours in Jesus Christ!
But that is not the case in our enjoyment of God’s blessings in this life. Regarding our spiritual gifts, Paul says, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone” (1 Cor. 12:4-6). This is true even of our faith: each has received his own measure of faith (Rom. 12:3) according to God’s infinite wisdom. If so, we can say that God has assigned to each of us a different measure of blessing. This is easy to observe: some are given more material possessions or better health or many fulfilling relationships or smoother path in life.
I hope that this doesn’t make you jealous and bitter. We are prone to focus on what we don’t have instead of what we have. When we look around, we tend to see others that are better off than we are, not those that are less fortunate. We will have much to be thankful for if we have the eyes to see. But I’m not saying that we should make ourselves feel better by looking at others that are worse off. If our contentment is based on that kind of comparison, it won’t be long before we compare ourselves with those that have it better than we do. Instead, we should accept that blessings are God’s to give out of His generosity; we are not entitled to them. What right can we claim to any of God’s blessings? We were once children of wrath, deserving God’s condemnation and punishment. We should be eternally grateful for His gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Should we complain that God did not give us more blessings?
We also need to remember that each blessing from God comes with stewardship responsibilities. It’s not how much we receive from God; it is how faithful we are in our stewardship of His blessings. What does it profit us to receive many blessings to the envy of others and hear from the Lord, “You wicked and slothful servant” (Matt. 25:26)! And what does it matter how little we received in this life if God should declare to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:23)?
Let us pray that the Lord would open our eyes to see how abundantly we are blessed. Let us also pray that He would help us be good stewards of all His blessings.