Jump Start # 2857

Proverbs 10:6 “Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.”

This coming Sunday, if God allows, I want to preach a lesson about the windows of Heaven. That’s an expression found in the O.T. It’s about blessings. It’s the idea that Heaven’s windows are opened up and the blessings flow down. The children sing a song like that, the prayers go up and the blessings come down.

The thought of a window in Heaven is fascinating. And, although my lesson isn’t going this direction, some are likely to feel that God has closed that window. The blessings no longer flow. Life is hard and they do not see an end to it. Where are the blessings? Where is God? And, when Christians get this way, it really hits their faith. This is the cause for some to walk away from God.

Our verse today, blessings are on the head of the righteous, is not encouraging, when you feel the windows to Heaven are closed. You begin to question everything. It starts with yourself. Maybe I’m not righteous? Maybe God has stopped the blessings because my heart is not right? And, the guilt flows. The guilt replaces the blessings. Guilt seems like a heavy rock that presses you down.

This is how Job felt. Not from God, but from his friends. That suffering soul was continually criticized and layered with guilt from his friends. They were wrong. They thought they were right, but they weren’t. The blessings, they believed, would start flowing again, once Job repented of his sins. Stop the sin and the flow of blessings return. It’s as if sin had clogged up the drain of blessings. Seems logical, even preachable. However, that wasn’t the case for Job.

What should we do when it seems the windows of Heaven have closed?

First, realize that Heaven’s windows are not actually closed. The blessings that you feel that you are missing out on, does not mean all blessings have ceased. You are alive. You have today. Those are both powerful blessings. It may be that God has some lessons for you to learn. It may God has other things in store for you. There are so many blessings that we can feel that all of them are shut off, when they are not.

Second, when God says NO to your prayers, He has a reason. You may not see the reason, nor understand it at the time, but God does. Blessings come in many forms and so do the answers to our prayers. You may be looking at a specific way, and God has provided a much better way.

Third, all of God’s people have had seasons of suffering. All of them. And, if you are walking with the Lord, you’ll have your season. And, when we are going through those tough seasons and that valley seems so long and dark, it is easy to assume that God has turned His back on you. He hasn’t. Shipwrecks. Beatings. Prison. Those things followed Paul most of his life.

If life was so wonderful here all the time and there were no disappointments or hardships, we might not long for Heaven so much. Because this world is broken and tears fill our days, it makes our hearts long for that place where there is no mourning, death or tears.

Finally, God loves us. He always has. He has loved us when we didn’t love Him. He has loved us when we were off in the far country dancing to the song of the devil. He loved us when we didn’t think about Him very much. The ease of our life or the amount of blessings is no indication of how much God loves us. Spoiled, ungrateful and selfish is no place to be. Maybe God knows us better than we know ourselves. While some can handle some blessings, maybe you and I can’t.

The windows of Heaven—what a great expression. Those windows are opened for us.

Roger