Covert Blessings

[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during May 2020]

In a recent e-conversation, Ian Gray mentioned that despite the current restrictions we still have plenty to be thankful for. Indeed, to be house-bound you do, by definition, have to have a house and ‘be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home’. We see from the news that there are many people who do not have or cannot enjoy that blessing.

Back in February, Nancy wrote about being thankful for the obligations and chores that we have because they also mean that we can enjoy the blessings associated with them. But that was back then, in a different pre-COVID world where everything was normal. Can you recall the days when Zoom was the stuff of comic-books and wearing a mask in a bank was likely to cause panic amongst the staff? What will the new normal be? Will there still be blessings from above?

Psalm 136 reminds us that ‘His love endures for ever’. God is not fazed by a mere global pandemic; that is no reason for Him to back off or distance himself. On the contrary, as we spend more time asking questions and looking for answers He draws closer to us. For those who are suffering, be it through disease, distress or disturbance to routine, remember that He is still able to bless those who turn to Him.

So after you have woken at 3 o’clock in the morning and stared at the clock long enough for the digits to come into focus, you can thank God for His blessings; a secure place to rest, a new day and, not least, the joy of turning over and going back to sleep.

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Psalm 40 v5:

O Lord my God, you have multiplied your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

Or, as Johnson Oatman Jr. wrote in 1897:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys
Published, 26/May/2020: Page updated, 21/May/2020

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