How to Position Yourself to Receive the Blessing of God

When God created the earth and all of the living creatures upon it in the beginning, He pronounced a blessing upon them, as we have already seen in the introduction:

His expectation at that time was that the blessing would flow to them unhindered and unhampered, because everything that He had made was good, and the world and everything in it was in harmony both with Him and with itself.

However, following the fall of man and God’s pronouncement of a curse upon man and the world and everything in it (described in Genesis chapter 3), the free flow of God’s blessing was no longer either guaranteed or inevitable.

When God called Abram (later known as Abraham), He promised that he would not only be blessed by God, but would also be a blessing to those who would bless him:

However, as the story unfolds throughout this chapter and beyond, we find that Abraham experiences obstacles to this blessing arising from his own behaviour. When he is walking in faith and obedience to God, the blessing flows, but when he slips into trying to make things happen according to his own, or Sarah’s, understanding of what’s best, the blessing gets deflected and life becomes increasingly difficult (for example Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-18; 21:8-14).

Indeed, God continued to bless Abraham despite his poor choices, but had those choices not been made, or had they been made differently, the blessings would have flowed more freely.

A few hundred years later, we see God working with the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, now known as the Children of Israel (Israel being Abraham’s grandson Jacob, whose name was changed by God – Genesis 32:28).

Having led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai, where He gave them His law and entered into a covenant with them to be their God and to bless them, He makes clear to them that the blessing that He wants to pour out upon them will not necessarily benefit them, as there are conditions to be observed by them in order for them to be able to receive those blessings:

My supermarket promises me discounts if I shop with their loyalty card. The offer is AVAILABLE to me, and the loyalty card is AVAILABLE to me, but I will only receive the discounts if I USE the loyalty card when I shop.

Similarly, the blessings of God are available to each of us as children of God, but we must POSITION ourselves in such a way that we are able to RECEIVE those blessings.

Let’s consider the man in Psalm 1 who receives the blessings of God:

Would he have enjoyed the blessing of God:

• If he had walked in the counsel of the wicked?
• If he had stood in the way of sinners?
• If he had sat in the seat of scoffers?

Clearly, the answer is ‘no’.

So, if this is how he, or you, or I should NOT walk, stand, or sit, then how SHOULD we?

How should we Walk?

There were two men who lived long before Abraham’s time who were commended by God as having walked with Him. They were Enoch and Noah:

We are told nothing about Enoch’s way of life. He is included in the genealogy of Seth through to Abraham, and is famous primarily for being the father of Methuselah, who is famous for being the man who lived longer than anyone else ever did before or since.

Unlike his predecessors and descendants, Enoch lived on this earth for only 365 years, which was little more than a third of the longevity of his father Jared (962 years) or his son Methuselah (969 years).

But we are not told that Enoch died. Instead we are told that “he was not, for God took him”.

What does that mean? Was God so angry with him that He cut his life short so that he could do no more damage?

Of course not. If that had been the case, then he would have died like everyone else.

The testimony is that “Enoch walked with God”, so evidently God “took him” in the sense that He took him to be with Himself in His glory so that he would not have to go through the difficult process of growing old and frail, losing his faculties, and eventually expiring.

Enoch was blessed, because he chose to walk with God.

If we compare what is said about Enoch with what is said about Noah, we will see this assumption confirmed:

In this case, the testimony is that Noah was “a righteous man, blameless in his generation”, and that he walked with God. So, being righteous and blameless is either equivalent to walking with God or, more likely, is a product of walking with God.

We tend to become like those with whom we spend a lot of time, especially if it is intimate time; and in the days of Noah, when almost every journey was a journey on foot, that walking time with someone with whom you were intimate was not brief.

Both Enoch and Noah spend a lot of quality time with God, which resulted in them developing righteousness and becoming blameless, and receiving the blessing of God – one to be taken to glory without having to die, the other to be rescued from the deluge which slew every living creature on the earth, except for those who were admitted into the ark of God’s protection and deliverance.

The prophet Amos poses an important question to us about walking with God:

We can think of a number of things that need to be agreed on in order to walk with someone:

• The destination – place and time
• The starting point – place and time
• The route
• The pace
• What breaks, if any
• If there is any luggage, who’s carrying what
• How to engage with each other during the journey

The Christian life is a daily walk with God, and one in which He is the guide and mentor and you and I are the ones being guided and mentored, as Jesus makes clear:

This is not just a quiet stroll along the beach with your mate; this is discipleship; this is training; this is life coaching; this is being taught by God.

I learned early on in my Christian walk, that if God and I did not see eye to eye on something, one of us was going to have to change – and it was NOT going to be Him!

Have you had any disagreements with God recently? Did you try to argue the bit out with Him? If you did, I wonder what the outcome was.

Let me guess; it was either:

• a. You gave up on God and decided not to walk with Him any more, because He wouldn’t do things your way (e.g. John 6:66), OR

• b. You gave up on your agenda and submitted to God’s will when you realised that He was right and you were wrong (e.g. John 6:67-69).

If you went for option (b), I commend you. That was the sensible choice.

If you went for option (a), I have to admit that I understand, because I’ve done that too, on many occasions. But that is NOT the sensible choice. It’s the foolish one.

But God is always gracious and always willing to forgive and move on, so learn the lesson, get back into harness, and get back on the road.

Here's how God wants us to walk with Him:

Where Should We Stand?

Moses and Joshua, at different times, each found himself standing on HOLY GROUND – in the presence of God:

Elijah the prophet stood before God as a servant awaiting instructions:

John Milton, the English poet, wrote the famous words: “they also serve who only stand and wait”.

As his eyesight declined and he faced the prospect of being able no longer to serve God with his pen, as he had done for all of his adult life, Milton began to see that it is not so much WHAT WE DO that is important in the sight of God, but OUR WILLINGNESS to do whatever God requires of us, even should that be TO DO NOTHING but stand and wait.

God Himself makes us able to stand:

As Christians, called to be priests unto our God (1 Peter 2:9), we stand in the courts of the house of the Lord:

This is a holy place, and our lives should reflect that reality.

Moses and Joshua were both instructed to remove the sandals from their feet, since the ground on which they were standing had been made holy by the presence of God.

Rhys Howells, the Welsh intercessor, lived in a day when it was socially unacceptable to be seen out of doors with your head uncovered, but he was used to removing his hat while he prayed as he walked through the fields.

Then the Holy Spirit instructed him to remove his hat permanently, whether in private or in public, since he was continually in the presence of God.

You and I may not be required to remove our footwear or our headwear, but we should be aware that we are constantly in the presence of the Almighty, and comport ourselves accordingly.

But let us do so in a heart of HUMILITY, knowing that it is only by the grace of God that we stand at all:

There is a time to stand at our post, whatever that post may be, and not move until God releases us:

One place we must NEVER stand is in God’s way!

As children of God, we stand in GRACE …

… and we stand FIRM by FAITH:

A final word on this from Paul, in relation to his co-worker Epaphras and the Christians in the city of Colosse:

Where Should We Sit?

I believe that the best place for any of us to take our seat is along-side Mary:

Was it wrong for Martha to be serving?

No, of course not. Martha had a servant heart, and found her fulfilment in meeting the needs of those around her. This was her gift from God Himself (1 Corinthians 12:28; Romans 12:7; 1 Peter 4:11).

There is a time to SERVE and there is a time to SIT However, there is a time to SERVE and there is a time to SIT. Mary had discerned that this was the time to sit and listen. Martha needed to be told to do so and to learn how to do it, as it did not come naturally to her.

In the third chapter of John’s Gospel we read about a man called Nicodemus, a senior member of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin, who came to Jesus by night and sat with Him to ask Him about the Kingdom of God. It was while he sat with the Lord that he received the revelation that in order to see the Kingdom of God, never mind enter into it, “you must be born again” (John 3:1-8).

Then, in the following chapter, we read about a Samaritan woman, whose name we don’t know but whose lifestyle we do know to have fallen far short of the standard that God requires, who found Jesus sitting beside Jacob’s well and asking her for a drink of water. It was during this conversation that she received from the Lord the revelation that He was the Christ, and that He had come to pour out the living water of the Holy Spirit upon all those who would ask Him for it, and to grant them eternal life (John 4:3-14, 25-26).

At another time, as He sat on the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him to ask Him about the end of the age and His return to the earth, and while they sat together with Him they received the revelation of what to look for during the last days of this present epoch and how to prepare ourselves for that time (Matthew 24:3ff; Mark 13:3ff; Luke 21:5ff).

It was while he sat at the dinner table with Jesus that Zacchaeus the tax collector saw the need for repentance, and understood that repentance is only true repentance when it is followed though by restitution (Luke 19:1-10; compare Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8).

It was after king David had received the revelation, through Nathan the prophet, that God had called him to be the first in line of a never-ending dynasty of kings of Israel, and that his son would build the temple of the Lord, that he went in and sat before the Lord to thank Him and, by faith, to humbly receive from Him the fulness of that promise (2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17).

But then, David was no stranger to times of quiet meditation, whether sitting or lying, as we see from Psalm 63, where he says to God, “I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night” (Psalm 63:6 – ESVuk).

I remember hearing the testimony of a man of God who had been going through a very difficult period of testing, during which he was so broken that, in his own words, “I had nothing left to give to the Lord except my silence”.

There is a time to sit in silence before the Lord, when words are inappropriate, or appropriate words cannot be found to express what lies at the depth of the heart or the soul (Lamentations 2:10; 3:28).

At the other end of the scale, Jesus promises to his twelve disciples that, in the age to come, they will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30).

The Book of Revelation tells us about the millennial reign of Christ on the earth, and how that reign begins with “those to whom authority to judge was committed” being seated on thrones (Revelation 20:4). Obviously, the Twelve will be included in that number, but will there be others too?

I believe there will, for Paul says to the church in Corinth:

He is clearly stating that “the world is to be judged by YOU” and “WE are to judge angels”, so I think there is little doubt that it is those of us who have committed our lives to Christ and are sitting at His feet today to learn from Him and to be conformed to His likeness (Romans 8:29) who will be sitting upon those thrones in days to come.

But surely this is all in the distant future and does not apply today.

Or does it?

Paul tells us of another place where, as Christians, we are seated now, today:

This is a position of power and authority, from where the saints of God “reign in life through Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). It belongs to those who, like Mary, have humbled themselves, admitted their need, and made themselves available to the Lord Jesus to:

• Sit at His feet and learn from Him, then
• Stand before Him on His holy ground, and
• Walk with Him on a lifelong journey of discipleship and service.

The prophet Micah provides us with a perfect summary of all of this:

If we will do this, we will not need to go looking for the blessings of God; they will rain down upon us as we sit, stand, and walk with Him, having positioned ourselves in such a way that we are able not only to receive those blessings, but, like Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3), to be carriers and distributors of them to whomever it may be that God desires us to share them with as Agents of Blessing.