The Fullness of the Blessing

Psalm 37:21–26

Commentary

Be generous, always

Some people in life are ‘givers’ and some are ‘takers’. According to David, this is a key difference between the ‘righteous’ and the ‘wicked’: ‘Wicked borrows and never returns; Righteous gives and gives. Generous gets it all in the end’ (vv.21–22a, MSG).

Generosity is not an occasional act; it is a way of living. The generous are ‘always generous and lend freely’ (v.26). The Lord delights in those who live like this (v.23). You may hit problems and stumble but you will not fall (v.24). God’s promise is to bless you and your children (vv.25–26).

In today’s world, we are confronted by many ‘children begging bread’ (v.25). The bigger picture of this psalm is a vision of the entire people of God upheld by the practice of mutual generosity: giving and receiving. It was the people who followed God in generous giving to the poor that would find that their own needs were met when things took a turn for the worse. Whether financially, or otherwise, the rest of the community would support them in their need.

Today, we are aware of great need both locally and further afield. God’s will for all his people is to uphold one another by ‘[giving] generously’ (v.21). Take every opportunity to give generously and you will experience the fullness of God’s blessing.

Prayer

Luke 6:12-36

Commentary

Be generous to everyone

Jesus spent the night praying to God. He was filled with insight as he chose his disciples. He was also filled with power to heal the sick: ‘and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all’ (v.19).

Jesus contrasts those who accumulate for themselves (the takers) and those who have generosity of spirit (the givers).

There is an emptiness about the way of life which involves becoming ‘rich’, being ‘well fed’, with lots of superficial laughter and gaining a good reputation (vv.24–26). It leaves people feeling ultimately dissatisfied and ‘hungry’ (v.25).

The way of blessing is totally different. It is the way of generosity. It may involve poverty, hunger, weeping, being hated, excluded, insulted and rejected (vv.20–22) – but it is a way of satisfaction (‘You will be satisfied’, v.21) and joy (‘You will laugh’, v.21).

Jesus calls us to be generous towards our enemies: ‘Love your enemies... If someone grabs your shirt, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it... No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously’ (vv.27–29, MSG).

Be generous to everyone; ‘Give to everyone’ (v.30). This is an attitude of generosity, ‘without expecting to get anything back’ (v.35).

As always, Jesus is only calling us to imitate the generosity of God: ‘Help and give without expecting a return. You’ll never – I promise – regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind’ (vv.35–36, MSG).

Generosity towards your enemies means not only to forgive them but also to bless them. You must not speak evil of them even if you think they deserve it. You are to pray for them, bless them and speak well of them. As Nelson Mandela put it, ‘Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for your enemy to die.’ Instead, like God, be generous to everyone (v.36).

Prayer

Numbers 21:4–16

Commentary

Be generous – like God

Again in this passage we see the theme of blessings and curses (22:6), and the contrast between ‘taking’ and ‘giving’. We see God’s continuing generosity to his people. Their life was not easy. If you have been a Christian for any length of time you have probably experienced times like these. They went through the ‘desert’, the ‘valley’ and ‘wasteland’ (21:18–20). This could be seen as a picture of life’s trials; dry patches, low spots and seeming fruitlessness.

But God gives water (v.16). Jesus said, ‘whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life’ (John 4:13–14).

By contrast, Sihon was not a giver. He was mean: ‘Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory’ (Numbers 21:23).

Balaam was also a taker. He was after ‘the fee for divination’ (22:7). He is condemned in the New Testament because he ‘loved the wages of wickedness’ (2 Peter 2:15). Balaam’s ‘error’ was to ‘rush for profit’ (Jude 1:11).

The Israelites themselves grumbled against God and against Moses (Numbers 21:4–5). Despite all that God had done for them, they were not satisfied and rebelled against him. Their rebellion could not go unchecked, and so God initially sent judgment on the people (v.6). God’s ultimate plan though was to redeem and bless his people, restoring their relationship with him.

They confessed their sin and ‘the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived’ (vv.8–9).

Speaking of this incident in the desert Jesus said, ‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him’ (John 3:14–15). Jesus is referring, of course, to his death on the cross (12:32–33).

God, in his generosity, provides the sacrifice that enables you to know forgiveness. The uplifted snake in Moses’ day brought physical life to those who looked in faith. The uplifted crucified Christ brings eternal life to anyone who looks in faith and believes in him. You cannot earn forgiveness. Eternal life is a free gift, but you still have to choose to accept that gift. Believing is an act of the will that accepts the free gift of God (3:15).

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was one of the greatest and most influential speakers of the nineteenth century. He described his own conversion when, as a teenager, he heard a speaker say, ‘Look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but to look and live.’

‘Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me… When I heard that word, “Look!” what a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away... and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to him.’

This is the generosity of God. Your call to be generous stems from God’s generosity to you. As the apostle Paul writes, ‘Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!’ (2 Corinthians 9:15).

Prayer