Securing the Blessings

by Keith Gardner

Deuteronomy 1:21  See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Have you ever noticed that relationships are two sided? Your off handed reply might be; “this is a statement of the obvious”. And it is. It does not take much thought to realize you cannot have a relationship with someone by yourself. The other person has to participate. It reminds me of the “Anne girl” of Anne of Green Gables; the friendless Anne and her window friend; the reflection of herself that would show up around mirrors and darkened windows. The window friend could never reply, never show emotion, never reject, never love back.

How God must feel when He speaks to us and our response is muted? How often it seems our prayers go unanswered. Does it not seem strange to you that the God of heaven, who wanted a relationship with us so badly that He sent His Son, in the form of a man, to die on the cross in such a horrible way, and we have such a difficult time recognizing that love? At the same time we send up to the heavens countless prayers that seem to fly off into eternity, never stopping at the intended place waiting to be answered. It is as if we are talking at each other and not to each other. This is not a relationship of significance but of convenience.

Revelation 3:20 – “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Now that is an invitation! An invitation requires a response. It demands something from us and the response must be specific, not general. Our reply cannot be another request, another prayer, another question. Our only options are to welcome Him in or to send Him away.

It seems the real difficulty in this heaven-earth relationship is our lack of a real response; our not listening to the words spoken, words directed towards us. This relationship is not with a child, it is not with a subordinate. This relationship is with God, the creator of all that is, and we have an invitation to that relationship.

This relationship provides security and blessing; acceptance and unconditional love. We are invited to fulfill our real purpose; our intended destiny. We are invited to know the One who made us and to understand His intentions for His creation. We are invited to understand that our part in His plan starts with accepting the invitation; laying hold of the promise, having the courage to take all that God has already laid out for us. Do not be shy, do not be timid or afraid. All that God has laid out for us is for the taking.