Some blessings only come through difficulty:
Luke 23:39-43
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” ESV
Jesus
Jesus
You in Your Present State.
Genesis 29:31
31 When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ESV
Rachel’s descendants:
Exodus 3:7
7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. ESV
Whatever state you are in, Jesus sees you…
Something else to hold on to when blessings don’t come easy…
Jesus
Your Prayers for Help
Genesis 30:22-24
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, “May the Lord add to me another son!”
God did not forget Rachel’s descendant in Egypt…
Exodus 2:23-25
Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
Something else to hold on to when blessings don’t come easy…
Jesus is
to Keep His Promises to You
Genesis 31:11-14
11 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’ 12 And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land
and return to the land of your kindred.’” ESV
God was faithful to keep His promises to Jacob’s descendants:
Exodus 3:16-18
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
Something else to hold on to when blessings don’t come easy…
Jesus is
for God’s Good & Greater Purposes
Genesis 28:14
…and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 3:15
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” ESV
Matthew 1:17-18
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
When you are struggling to see the blessings, don’t forget:
Jesus sees, ..Jesus remembers, ..Jesus is faithful, ..Jesus is working
Because the greatest blessing didn’t come easy:
Acts 2:23-24
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.