by Jacob Ninan
When the people of Israel were on their way from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, the blessing that God had given to their forefather Abraham was upon them (Gen.12:2,3). God helped them to defeat enemies which came across their path. When Balak, the king of Moab, heard about them and saw that they were advancing towards him, he tried to employ Balaam, a prophet of God, to curse them. Even though Balaam loved the wealth that Balak offered him, he found himself unable to curse Israel whom God had blessed (Num.23:8,20,23). He proclaimed that he could not curse whom God had blessed, and that no black powers would work against God's people.
Our relationship with God as His blood-bought children is stronger than what Israel had. When Jesus died on the cross in our place, the curse that would have come upon us because we had disobeyed the laws of God was placed on Him. Deuteronomy 28 describes the blessings and curses related to keeping or disobeying the Law. Jesus suffered in our place so that we do not have to be under that curse any more, but come into the blessing of Abraham (Gal.3:9-14). This blessing is not only that we would be blessed, but also that we would become a blessing to others around us in His name. God has blessed us when we became His children, and it cannot be that at the same time we would be suffering under curses.
The blessings that God gives to us now under the new covenant are not the same as those under the old covenant. Many Christians have not understood this, and equate blessings only with physical and material prosperity. But God wants to give us a much greater blessing now. What is open for us now is that we can get transformed through God's grace from our old sinful nature to God's nature, or His character (2Pet.1:3,4). Isn't this much greater and lasting in eternity compared to wealth on this earth? Therefore, if we are pursuing this new blessing, we will find that God will sometimes use temporary earthly trouble or persecution to purify us and to help us focus better on heavenly riches (2Cor.4:17).
But what happens commonly is that when children of God go through earthly sufferings, some of them take things in the wrong way and get to wrong conclusions.
Many have been told that once they came to Jesus, He would take away all their suffering, and they could enjoy life. When that does not happen, they get angry with God! Sometimes they jump to assume that God must be angry with them for allowing suffering. They have not come to be assured in their heart about how God has forgiven and accepted them totally on the basis of grace – unmerited favour that He shows us because Jesus has already taken the punishment that we deserve. God did this because He knew that no one could get saved by becoming good enough for God (Rom.3:20). But some Christians suffer unnecessarily because, in their heart, they still think that God can accept them only if they are perfect in their behaviour. But the glorious truth of the Gospel is that while we will remain more or less imperfect to the end of our life, God has taken away our condemnation because He sees us in Christ (Rom.7:25-8:1). The way to receive this grace is only through our faith and not by perfect behaviour. Even while we may accept the doctrine of grace in our mind, it is only when we believe it in our heart that we can get rid of condemnation and enjoy our acceptance with God.
Another thing that happens for many people is that when they face difficulties in life, they assume that someone must be doing black magic or witchcraft against them, or that there must be a curse against their family. We have been looking at verses that tell us that we are under the blessing of God and that curses cannot work against us. We have deserved curses from God for the many sins we have committed, but He has taken them away by His grace towards us. Now curses or magic cannot work against us. This is the position we must take by faith even when there are things that we cannot understand or figure out. If we realise that we have given reason for someone to curse us, then what we need to do first is to repent and receive forgiveness, and afterwards we can ask for God's protection to take over in our life. But some people look to an explanation like this as an effort to move away any blame from themselves. For them, it is God or other people who are responsible for their misery, and they think they have nothing to do with the situation themselves.
The first thing we need to examine when things go wrong for us is if they are the consequences of our mistakes or wrongdoings. For many people, that is the last direction they will think of looking at. But isn't it a fact that we all have done many things wrong in our lives and isn't it only natural that consequences follow sometimes for many years afterwards, even after we have received forgiveness?
It could simply be that someone has done something wrong to us, just as we have done wrong and sometimes others have suffered as a result? This is a fact of life. As far as it is possible for us, we can take steps to set things right between us and them. It need not be stressed in this context how we need to do this with humility and a forgiving attitude! But we know that not all will be willing to admit their faults and there may be situations that go adversely for a long time. It should not look like a cliche to say at such times that they give us an opportunity to learn to love our enemies and to exercise patience. Sometimes it may also be necessary to keep a distance from such people because it would be foolish to mingle with them and effectively ask for trouble!
Another factor we must remember is that as long as we live in this world which has been affected by the cumulative sin of mankind, we will face the long term consequences of that. How the environment has been polluted, how sicknesses have come out, how the climate goes chaotic at times, etc., cannot be blamed on any particular person, but in a sense we are all responsible. Sometimes God protects us miraculously, and at other times He decides that a little trouble may be able to teach us lessons of eternal value. Therefore, while we pray for God's protection, miraculous healing, etc., let us also remember to have a submissive attitude towards His wisdom.
All of us have a problem where we lack wisdom and understanding, and our thoughts are not always right. As a result, with many kinds of limitations on our part, we take wrong decisions even after we have become children of God and He has given us His Spirit to dwell in us. It is a great lesson we need to learn about checking ourselves post facto about what we have thought, spoken and done and see if we could have done things better. Let us not blame God for the results of our own wrong actions.
Jesus has told us that the key to coming under the blessing of God's provisions of our life is to keep looking for His righteousness and kingdom to have rule over our life. This is something we have to check constantly because we all have the potential to stray away from this goal, following our own desires or prompted by other people or the Devil. Each direction we take in different situations has the potential to take us towards God or away from Him.
In conclusion, let us learn to take up responsibility for our life and to stop looking for a scapegoat to place the blame on. Let us remember that no one else is affected by our life as much as we, and so it will be in our interest to take charge. In doing so, we know that it will be in submitting to God and His ways that we can find our ultimate satisfaction.