You Received a Blessing from God. Now What?

Introduction 

Blessings are Double-edged Swords 

1 Peter 5:8–10 (ESV): 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith. . .  

The most common time to let your guard down is after a victory.  

Matthew 12:43–45 (ESV): 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also, will it be with this evil generation.” 

• Consider all the warnings we receive in Scripture about letting our guards down after a victory: 

• In the parable of the Sower, the person who receives the word with great joy, but with no roots to draw strength during tests and trials (Matthew 13:20–21) 
• The people who enjoyed the miracle of the fish and bread, but failed to continue to seek Jesus as the Living Bread (John 6:22-27). 
• The ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, nine of which did not say thank you (Luke 17:11-19) 
• The man who got healed by the pool of Bethesda, but was warned about his sin causing a worse thing happening to him (Luke 5:2-15) 

God’s Promise to Israel Came with a Warning 

 Deuteronomy 8:11 (ESV): 11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 

Deuteronomy 8:12-13 (ESV): 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,  

Deuteronomy 8:14 (ESV): 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,  

Deuteronomy 8:15-16 (ESV): 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.  

Deuteronomy 8:17 (ESV): 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’  

Deuteronomy 8:18 (ESV): 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 

Deuteronomy 8:19-20 (ESV): 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. 

Joshua 24:31 (ESV): 31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel. 

Judges 2:11–20 (ESV): 11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they 16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.  

“Each cycle is characterized by 

• Sin (idolatry), 
• Servitude (domination by other nations), 
• Supplication (the people finally cry to the Lord for deliverance),  
• Salvation (the Lord responds by raising up a judge to deliver them) and 
• Silence (years of peace until the cycle begins again).” 

 (from The Promise Keepers Men’s Study Bible, Zondervan, 1997, pp. 275–276) 

Judges 21:25 (ESV): 25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. 

Proverbs 3:7 (ESV): 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. 

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2023