Deuteronomy 15: 10 NIV
Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.
Yesterday’s Word of the Day set me thinking, so I ran a search on the word “generous.” This verse from Deuteronomy stood out to me in particular because I know that in a few chapters we will learn explicitly about The Blessing! Clearly, Moses had the blessing in mind when he wrote this because we see its operation.
I will be very honest with you. I want to be under the blessing. I want it chasing me down in the street. My life is much easier with the blessing working in it than without. Actually, something didn’t go exactly my way the other day and I was surprised. It wasn’t a big thing but it was noticeable because it frustrated my purposes slightly. On the other hand, a different matter worked out better than I could have orchestrated. The point is, I have become accustomed to the way life works with the blessing.
Now, do I give just so the blessing will work in my life? Not really, but I will say that God’s thoughts on giving do influence me. The blessing only works when you give freely, not begrudgingly. If you cannot give cheerfully, it is best to take the whole issue to God in prayer or even journal it.
Our challenges with giving sometimes have to do with brokenness in our spirits. So, if I don’t want to give, then I immediately begin to question it. What is wrong with me that I need to hold on to this? I think about people I know who are so generous and people like Sister Teresa and it reframes things in my mind. I see myself positioned differently. Then I imagine how I want to think and feel and I see myself in that posture. I see myself confident in my giving and generous. That helps me. If I am having a hard time letting go, it is a good sign something is wrong with me because that certainly is not God’s Spirit speaking within me. When we are in our right place with God, we are always generous. If we find ourselves hesitant to give, then something has gone wrong in our hearts. The most important thing to do is to ask the Father about it so that he can heal us or mend that which broke.
God wants to bless everything you touch. That is The Blessing that Moses wrote about in Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy. The blessing works through our divine connection with God the Father. You cannot be divinely connected to God and also be stingy. It just doesn’t ever happen that way. He is the supreme giver. This verse attests to that. Jesus’ life attests to that but God’s blessing flows according to the streams of life and one of the most significant of those is generosity. When we get in the flow with the Father, life bubbles along smoothly.
Be a generous giver. Not because I say so, but because it is God’s way. Speak with Him and ask Him to help you be generous in your giving and let the blessing flow in your life.
