Where’s My Blessing?
There may be times in life when it seems like everyone else is moving ahead of you. They have the business, the marriage, the house, and the kids, while you may be in your late 20s and still living with your parents. Although, it may seem easy to become jealous of others or angry with God for your circumstances, take a step back and ask yourself, did you ever truly pray about the desires of your heart? Did you ask for a new job or a new house? Yes, we are children of God, and He knows our desires before we even ask, but you still have to open your mouth and speak those things. If you desire to make a certain amount of money, pray about it. If you need healing, pray about it. By not saying anything, you’re delaying your breakthrough.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or what person is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Matthew 7:7-11 NASB
Rachel’s Mistake
While Rachel may have had Jacob’s heart, she was unable to bear him any children. This made her jealous of her sister, but instead of praying to the Lord about the matter, she blamed Jacob and decided to give her slave, Bilhah, as a wife to her husband so that she may claim Bilhah’s children as her own. She didn’t even pause to think about it when all she had to do was pray and, if it was in His will, wait for the Lord to give her a child. It wasn’t until later that we see she started praying, because, in Genesis 30:22, it says that God remembered her and listened to her prayer for a child. She conceived and gave birth to Joseph, and he was mentioned as being the son of Jacob’s old age, so several years had passed from the time that Rachel and Jacob got married to the time that she was able to conceive. Part of the delay could’ve been that Rachel had been praying to idols. In Genesis 31:19, it says that she stole her father’s household idols before departing with Jacob to the land of Canaan. Not only did she steal them, but she hid them by sitting on them when her father came looking for them, which shows that they held some sort of significance to her, but this mistake ultimately cost her, her life because Jacob, not knowing that Rachel had stolen them, placed a curse of death on the person which whom the idols were found. Later, in Genesis 35:19, we see that she dies during difficulties in labor while giving birth to Benjamin.
Don’t Seek to Obtain a Blessing Outside of God
You can’t expect to obtain a blessing from God by trying to go around Him to get it. You can try to start as many businesses as you want, but if you never pray about it and ask the Lord for the proper business plan, you won’t have as much success as you could have had, had you just prayed about it and allowed Him to be your foundation. It’s pointless to be upset with God for not giving you what you haven’t even asked for. All in all, while some things may not be in His will for your life at the moment or at all, how will you know if you don’t ask Him? Raise up your voice and pray about it. Save yourself the troubles that come from trying to go outside of His will to obtain a blessing.
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