God Delights (Daily Encouragement)
“The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” – Proverbs 10:22
A good question to ask is “how do you picture God’s face when he looks at you?” Do you picture Him as a disappointed parent who is a little ashamed and annoyed because of how you are behaving, having to bail you out? Do you picture him as a disengaged parent who isn’t interested in you and what you need at all? Or do you picture him as a loving parent who is enamored with you and enjoys being involved in your life and giving you good things to enjoy? Through Jesus, we become sons and daughters of God, he is our Father who loves us and wants to bless us and make us have rich, full lives.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is talking about coming to the Father and asking for what we need – he says to ask, seek, and find (Matthew 7:7-8). He compares to our human father/son relationships and says “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:11). The Find Your Way Study this week put it this way:
“God delights in blessing us. This knowledge, coupled with our proverb that the “blessing of the Lord makes rich,” leads us to understand that — though God’s blessings are vast and take many forms — God does sometimes bless us financially. Financial blessings, like all blessings, can and should be used for the glory of God. If we fear the Lord, we do not need to fear money as something inherently destructive. This lines up with the second half of the proverb, “…and he adds no sorrow with it.” In other words, “rich” does not simply mean having some form of wealth and possessions — it means God giving us grace to be able to enjoy them, free of sorrow. This is true financial blessing.”
Take some time to reflect on ALL that you have and thank God for His provision.
What does it look like for you to enjoy God through what He has provided?
Tomorrow we will look at how God calls us to use what we have based on his desire and delight in us having a rich life.