“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:…”
“Every day you bless me,” I said to the Lord one morning as I knelt on the ground caring for paralyzed dog Mr. Simeon with paralyzed Miss Mercy and dog with no eyes little Glory and 13 year old dancing dog Dancer close by. “And I don’t see all the blessings.” How often it seems I see everything but – and respond poorly. Negatively.
Blind to the blessings. The words came to me immediately. Clearly the Holy Spirit. With a message. Sometimes I go around frustrated, yearning, no idea what to write next. Where are the words? The messages? Other times I remember. The Holy Spirit gives them to me. Wait on the Lord. Then they come. In His time. For others. For me. For His glory. Like this.
Blind. To the blessings. Can’t see. All around us, blessings, blessings, blessings. Sometimes I consider how forever will not be enough to thank God for all the blessings He has given me, first and foremost forgiveness and a forever relationship with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. And then endless blessings after that one. Other times, I can hardly see my blessings at all. Blind to them. Or just every once in a while noticing one, or two, then reverting back to blindness. Blindness? Blindness where blessings are concerned. Not seeing. Not acknowledging. Not thankful.
How many of us, I wonder, struggle with this? With not seeing regularly, daily, hourly, moment by moment, how good, how gracious, how amazing, God is to us? When we don’t even deserve an iota of His goodness, we humans, we sinners, oh that He a perfectly holy, righteous God who has every reason to turn away from us forever because of our sin nature, instead through Christ draws us to Himself, then showers us with blessings, blessings, blessings. Blessings we may look right past.
So why are we blind sometimes? In a single word. Sin. Self. Self-pity. Pride. Arrogance. Complaining. Self-pity. Bitterness. Anger. And on and on. And on. All the myriad of ways in which we block the glorious forever light and eternal love of the Lord. Focusing on what’s wrong in the world, pointing the finger at others, blaming, looking for the negative, miring ourselves in the scum of self-centeredness, of the muck and yuck of sin.
Oh, but when we repent of it all, when we turn to Him, when we stare at the Lord, behold Him, delving into His Word, shouting praises to Him in our hearts, opening our hearts and eyes to the wonder of Him, to the wonder of intimacy with Him through Christ, to the wonder of all He has created, to the wonder of how He blesses, blesses, blesses us. Oh, let us turn to the Lord and rejoice! Celebrating Him, celebrating His goodness, seeing the blessings and thanking Him for them. The greatest blessing of all, the Lord!