‘Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD hiGod.’ Psalm 147:5
I was triggered again today, and I trust you were as well!
Over the years my soul has been trained to leap within me whenever I read about the ‘blessed’! It seems that the Spirit has taught me to respond to the word with an aching, hope-filled longing. When I read the word I imagine myself ‘hearing’ the Spirit say, ‘Take note of THIS! Take note ESPECIALLY of THIS!’
Whenever the Scriptures speak about ‘blessing’ or describe the life of the ‘Blessed’ they are making a statement about reality—about the ways things truly are. In this sense, all of the statements about the ‘Blessed’ are statements of revelation, statements from the Creator to his creatures about the essence and the ways of his creation- statements that in our fallen, rebellious world seem ludicrous and unbelievable.
But more than that, whenever the Scriptures speak about ‘blessing’ or describe the life of the ‘Blessed’ they are implicitly or explicitly issuing an invitation! The declaration of God’s revelation is, at one and the same time, God’s invitation into that reality. Another reason for our hearts to be stirred.
But then I turned from the Psalm to the Gospel lesson for today, Mark 10: 17-30, the story of the Rich Young Ruler, and discovered a possible reason for the Spirit’s triggering. The story is sobering for all of us who think that our ‘hope is in the LORD God,’ for this is exactly the stance of the Rich Young Ruler. He comes to Jesus searching for more, but leaves Jesus with far less—and all because it was revealed to him that he trusted in something other than God more than God, and then refused to abandon that trust!
Jesus’ disciples were dismayed as they watched him leave, crying out: ‘Then who can be saved?’ To which Jesus answered: ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’
We tend to think that this is a statement about the source and the beginning of the ‘blessed life’—and it is! If God does not act, then we have no hope. But, this is also a statement about the continuation of the ‘blessed life,’ that is, it is life lived WITH God, inpartnership WITH God. That ‘life with God,’ that partnership with God is utterly exclusive and absolute—it will not, can not, brook any rivals! And yet, it is also utterly glorious, utterly life-giving.
Do you desire to live the ‘blessed life’?
Ask the Spirit to ‘trigger’ you this day.
Ask the Spirit to reveal to you any ‘rivals’ to God within your soul.
And then ask Jesus to give you the courage to renounce them, to say ‘No’ to them; and then say ‘Yes’ to the One who alone can lead you into blessedness, the only One who can lead you deeper into ‘life with God’!