Nehemiah 13:2 says, "for they [the Ammonites and Moabites] did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them-yet our God turned the curse into a blessing." Turning curses into blessings is a specialty of God's richest mercies toward his people. Paul conveys this marvelous truth in Romans 8:28 when he says, "And we know that God works all things together for good to those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." I take "all things" in that text to mean "all things," both good and evil, triumph and tragic, joyful and sorrowful. God providentially works in the unfolding of history in ways, seen and unseen, that result in greater benefit and joy for his people! His mercies endure forever!
God works in merciful ways to turn curses into blessings for his people. However, I have observed how man often acts in horrible, sinful ways to turn blessings into curses. For example, children are indeed a blessing from the Lord as stated in Psalm 127:3. The tragedy of the blessing of children occurs when parents turn those blessings into curses by making their children the highest object of their affections, and therefore, essentially making their children, who are blessings, into idols. In rejoicing over their children, they react from the flesh and bring up their children in a worldly manner instead of a redemptive manner. Pretty soon their children take precedence over the work and worship of the Lord. Parents are prone to express their love toward their children in lavishing them with the world's goods, making their success in the world and among their peers a priority, and using little to no restraint in keeping from their children whatever they desire. As a result, they produce ungodliness and materialism in their children and neglect to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4). God blesses us with children that we might raise them up to love Christ and present them back to the Lord to live and exist for his glory. But if we are not careful, this is not what happens.
The same could be said for jobs and material wealth. God blesses us with the opportunities to care for our families and others and to support the spread of the gospel (Eph 4:28). However, when we react in the flesh we use the blessings of jobs and wealth as excuses for our lax service to God and begin to hoard our goods and indulge our fleshly appetites instead of storing up treasures in heaven (Luke 12:13-21). The result is a tragedy, and often indicative of faithlessness.
I want to encourage us all in the year before us to receive the blessings of God this coming year with a determination to not allow God's blessings to be our curses, but rather to offer up each blessing as an offering to the Lord! Remember, when God blesses you this year in whatever ways he sees fit, he has done so that you might have more opportunities to live for his glory and proclaim his fame to the ends of the earth. We can do that through our children, our income, our possessions and all the hundreds of other blessings as well. Let us not waste our blessings by making them curses! As God blesses us, may we turn those blessings from God into ways in which we bless his holy name!
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