If you catch up with me here very often, you know I can be arrested by something I read that challenges the lens I use. That happened again last week as I was reading Troy Schmidt’s new release: Fish Sandwiches: The Delight of Receiving God’s Promises. One little sentence caused me to look at an area more deeply regarding blessings.

 

I doubt there is anyone who isn’t hoping for blessings in nearly any and all areas of our lives. Many of us can sometimes miss the breadth of blessings we experience more days than not. Before you challenge that statement, let’s remember that the definition of the word is “God’s favor and protection.”  It is a broad statement that doesn’t outline the scope of blessings.

 

Some of us can look often at blessings related to our financial status either because we just received a raise or bonus or we feel we want or deserve one. Financial provision is clearly a blessing and it is likely that all of us will experience at least one season where the provision will change. Job loss or change for any number of reasons or unexpected large expenses will send our budget (if we have one) hurtling to the basement.

 

Some of us look at the blessings related to our health. That is more true of us if we or someone dear to us has experienced a loss in his or her health or we are getting older and things don’t work quite as well as they used to.

 

The truth is that we are most aware of our blessings when they disappear.

 

We become aware of the blessing of breathing easily when a cold or sinus infection suddenly creates congestion making breathing easily something that eludes us and we long for. We become aware of the ease of movement when an accident, illness, or arthritis assaults our body.

 

We become aware of the blessing of relationships in our lives when there is a change with one of them. Sometimes the change is a natural expected occurrence such as children going off to college or leaving home. Sometimes the change comes from a move, a divorce, or a death.

 

Change in a relationship causes us to reflect on what the relationship meant to us. We may see the bad, but often we will recall the good that we took for granted as well when it is no longer there.

 

We become aware of the blessing of freedom when it is taken from us. That happens in war and incarceration, but it also happens when we cannot drive ourselves wherever we choose and whenever we choose or when we develop diabetes or allergies that upend the diet we enjoyed and foods we most relish. Freedom in every sense of the word and in every area is a far greater blessing than many of us truly get.

 

The conundrum is what we do with blessings. Are we sponges that absorb them or cups that take in and pour out?

 

That question usually faces us related to financial blessings when we are asked to share or give more for one cause or another, but perhaps we miss that it goes farther than that. It also isn’t just about sharing our gifts or skill sets in various ministries or community organizations (even though that is good and needed).

 

Blessings from the Lord are often “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3: 20-21). God is not stingy. He gives enough and more.

 

When He fed the 5,000+ people after Jesus had been teaching all day, they not only got enough fish and bread through the blessing and miracle of a boy’s lunch, there were also 12 baskets of leftovers. Have you ever wondered what they did with those? Maybe they passed them out to those who were poor and hadn’t been there or maybe they let people pack a few of them for the trek home.

 

I think Jesus wanted those on the hill that day to pass on more than the loaves and fish miracle story. He wanted them to pass on the blessing of the spiritual food that had filled them to overflowing and kept them spellbound listening for a very long time.

 

If I am a sponge, I only soak up more and more and more. I might forget that even a sponge has a limit and the answer is not to look for another sponge (or to build another barn as the rich man considered doing).

 

What am I soaking up without even a thought of pouring out?

 

What are you?

 

“Blessings are not gifts to be consumed, but resources to put to good use. Blessings do not stop with us. They continue on through us.”

Troy Schmidt

 

I am called to be grateful of blessings and how many there are that cannot even be counted, but they aren’t supposed to stop with me (or you).

 

Are you a sponge or a cup?

 

 

 

Do you enjoy surprises?

 

I think there are some of us who very much like surprises. But a great many more of us appreciate our lives to be a bit more predictable. Those of us in the latter group like to have a sense of what to expect (at least broadly speaking) even if the surprise is a good thing.

 

Underneath that preference can sometimes be a need to feel like we have our little world a bit more under control. We anticipate things and then plan for them (both good and bad) and we hope that results in us being less rattled when the inevitable surprises do happen.

 

Another thing that influences that is what our personality type is. There are some who really prefer spontaneity and a “go with the flow” daily life. Others like schedules and thrive with them whether they are in our heads, our planners, or electronic devices. (There is a whole range in both types of personalities.) In our family we have a range of those who prefer schedules plus one who is the spontaneous type.

 

Now that our children are married with children of their own, it’s fun to see how that plays out in their adult lives and parenting and relational styles.

 

Expectations can definitely be challenging for any one of us because whatever the expectation may be, it is often not met or at least not met in the way we hope or prefer.

 

That results in some of us developing a pretty sour view of expectations and we refuse to hope or believe in a growing list of things and people.

 

Disappointed expectations for others result in adaptation to what happens as well as a growth in trust in the Lord and discernment of those who are trustworthy.

 

Have you considered how this plays out with the Lord?

 

One of the challenges I might suggest is to look carefully at what you see in whatever passages of the Bible you are currently reading. You will discover over and over again that what many of those we read about expected to happen turned out differently.

 

It seems we should be prepared to be surprised…not by God’s character, consistency, or constancy, but by how He chooses to display those as well as when He does so.

 

Maybe one of our problems is that our minds are finite and God’s is infinite! We cannot even imagine all the possibilities that He knows and creates.

 

It might also be true that we have a pesky problem of expecting the worst or at least not the best or what WE want.

 

Consider the examples you can think of in the Bible. Some are really big ones that no one can miss like the ram in the thicket that spared Abraham from offering Isaac on the altar or the Red Sea parting to allow the children of Israel to cross over walking on a dry seabed. Sarah and Hannah dealing with infertility and then God shows up and surprises them as well as their husbands with babies that have a major role in biblical history.

 

But surprises don’t end when we get to the New Testament. A virgin conceives and delivers the Messiah as a wee babe when anyone who had been looking for Him expected a king!

 

Reading through the Gospels we find one surprise after another. Jesus didn’t conform to what anyone expected and the religious of his day were not at all pleased. They lost control and a sense of power over people’s lives from this man from Nazareth.

 

The disciples were not those the elite would have chosen either. They were not highly educated and privileged people to serve at the side of the babe who would become a king. Over and over again Jesus confounded them even though these chosen 12 spent more time with Him than anyone else.

 

There were the big miracles like his resurrection and the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand of course, but what about the fish with a coin in its mouth to pay taxes or how Jesus hung out with Samaritans and women whose reputations were less than stellar?

 

We may well enjoy reading those stories now, but I wonder how any of us would have reacted if we had been there when it was happening. How would we react as believers today if we were placed in situations that really made no sense or shocked us?

 

If we look at these stories more carefully, we will discover that Jesus was not only God and a miracle worker but also someone who paid attention to details about the people with whom He had contact. He knew their needs (spoken and unspoken) and moved in response to them.

 

How important it is that we don’t forget He is still the same today. Do we notice those little surprises and attention to details or do we miss them entirely or chalk them up to coincidence?

 

If we do those things, we will miss the faith-building amazing love of Jesus reaching out to us in more ways than we realize. How He responds and when may not be our choice, but He doesn’t fail to see our needs. Needs are what He promised to fulfill. He made no promises about “wants.” One dictionary definition of need is “a physiological or psychological requirement for the well-being of an organism.” It’s essential in order to live. That reminder reduces our list of what we think we need or want considerably.

 

On my last visit with my oldest friend, I savored every moment. She is 93 and her health is now failing. I have known her about 45 years and until recent months, she was amazingly healthy in body, mind, and spirit.

 

It was evident in our recent time together that her body and mind are not what they have been, but also clear that her spirit and connection with her faith were unwavering.

 

I asked her what she has sensed from the Lord during this season. After pausing briefly she replied, “I won’t be disappointed.”

 

Here near the end of her life when it could be easy to wonder what will happen in transition from this life to the next, Jesus had assured her that all her hopes in Him would not be disappointed.

 

How sweet this detail for my precious friend!

 

Hope in Him! 

 

He will undoubtedly surprise you, but He will not disappoint you. He sees the big picture that we cannot. He loves us beyond what we can imagine.

 

 

 

 

If any one of us were asked on the spur of the moment to tell about a miracle we recall in the New Testament, many of us would think of the Feeding of the Five Thousand as one of our top choices. Perhaps that is because it is recorded in all four of the Gospels. The only other miracle mentioned in all four is the resurrection of Jesus.

 

One of the risks of knowing a passage well is how often we reread it without a lot of thought. Miracles can almost become mundane. We don’t let our imagination put us in the story and allow it to come alive.

 

If that is true of you, you won’t want to miss reading a new release from Tyndale House by Troy Schmidt. Fish Sandwiches: The Delightof Receiving God’s Promises will give you a fresh view of this powerful miracle and well-known story about the boy whose sack lunch of five loaves and two fish fed perhaps as many as 15,000 people one day.

 

Yes, the Bible says 5,000, but the men were typically the only ones counted so if you add women and children it can pretty easily raise the number multiple times.

 

Reading in Matthew and Mark a few chapters farther opens on the feeding of the Four Thousand. We don’t know the time span between the two, but the symbolism about each is fascinating to consider as Troy Schmidt causes the reader to slow down in looking at these miracles.

 

Schmidt reminds the reader of a key truth about miracles:

 

“All of Jesus’ miracles were more than just miracles. They were messages, live-action parables to show us deeper truths about ourselves and God.”

 

 This story about the loaves and fish reminds us of how sensitive Jesus was to the needs of the people. He knew they needed spiritual feeding, but they had been with Him for a long time listening to Him teach and He knew they were physically hungry as well.

 

What a great reminder of not only evidence of the compassion of Jesus, but also how sensitive He was to details some might think He might miss in the midst of teaching spiritual truths. Pausing to see that can help any one of us remember that in our current situation.

 

The miracle utilized three things: fish, bread, and a boy. Consider that in that whole crowd only the boy had anything to offer and that he gave it willingly. Jesus pauses with the bread and fish in his hands and looks up to heaven and the food begins to multiply.

 

Fish Sandwiches will give you more opportunities to delve more deeply into the symbolism and elements of the story. Where did the baskets come from? What was symbolic about 12 baskets of leftovers and where did those baskets come from?

 

One of the joys of this book was the reminder to slow down and take note of the words in the Bible that I read. I think that results in a fresh awareness of how God works in the present even as He did in the past.

 

“When we dine on Jesus, we ingest his words, his sacrifice, his teaching, his promises, his commandments, and his love. He gives us health, vitality, enthusiasm, security, and life.”

Troy Schmidt

 

To comply with new regulations introduced by the Federal Trade Commission, Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 will give you a fresh view of this powerful miracle and well-known story about the boy whose sack lunch of five loaves and two fish fed perhaps as many as 15,000 people one day.

 

Yes, the Bible says 5,000, but the men were typically the only ones counted so if you add women and children it can pretty easily raise the number multiple times.

 

Reading in Matthew and Mark a few chapters farther opens on the feeding of the Four Thousand. We don’t know the time span between the two, but the symbolism about each is fascinating to consider as Troy Schmidt causes the reader to slow down in looking at these miracles.

 

Schmidt reminds the reader of a key truth about miracles:

 

“All of Jesus’ miracles were more than just miracles. They were messages, live-action parables to show us deeper truths about ourselves and God.”

 

 This story about the loaves and fish reminds us of how sensitive Jesus was to the needs of the people. He knew they needed spiritual feeding, but they had been with Him for a long time listening to Him teach and He knew they were physically hungry as well.

 

What a great reminder of not only evidence of the compassion of Jesus, but also how sensitive He was to details some might think He might miss in the midst of teaching spiritual truths. Pausing to see that can help any one of us remember that in our current situation.

 

The miracle utilized three things: fish, bread, and a boy. Consider that in that whole crowd only the boy had anything to offer and that he gave it willingly. Jesus pauses with the bread and fish in his hands and looks up to heaven and the food begins to multiply.

 

Fish Sandwiches will give you more opportunities to delve more deeply into the symbolism and elements of the story. Where did the baskets come from? What was symbolic about 12 baskets of leftovers and where did those baskets come from?

 

One of the joys of this book was the reminder to slow down and take note of the words in the Bible that I read. I think that results in a fresh awareness of how God works in the present even as He did in the past.

 

“When we dine on Jesus, we ingest his words, his sacrifice, his teaching, his promises, his commandments, and his love. He gives us health, vitality, enthusiasm, security, and life.”

Troy Schmidt

 

To comply with new regulations introduced by the Federal Trade Commission, Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my review.