Weekend Rants 2 of 3: Blessings

Sunday, May 20, 2007: Church Service
* This is just my personal record for Sunday church sermon. Please don't start some religious debate with me over what I've recorded.

We had a guest speaker, Rev TL in church. Known the guy from last year's youth camp. An unconventional but effective speaker. Anyway he gave a sermon on God's blessings.

What do we think of when we hear the word 'blessings'?

Psalm 103: 1 to 5

Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul;
and forget not all his benefits -
who forgives all you sins
and heals all your diseases
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Anyway, from this Bible verse, he spoke of five ways in which God can bless us. Here's

1. forgives all your sins - It is not just about being forgiven by God but also forgiving other people, as God has forgiven us. You could say in that sense, God is pretty fair. But the end result of forgiveness is peace.
2. heals all your diseases - Here, he spoke about how we in our present dependance on modern medicine have forgotten that God also heals. Not just the ones that are physical in nature but all mental and spiritual. Instead of jumping from doctor to doctor, or reaching for that convenient pill box, he recommended that we pray first. This is not to belittle or cut off the role of the doctor completely. After all, doctors are also a gift from God.
3. redeems your life from the pit - The picture this phrase paints an image of God literally scooping you out of a pit. The speaker made a lame analogy that this can also be likened to scooping the last remaining piece of meat from the steamboat. Generally, it means God can pull us out of our troubles, despair and etc; when we cry out to him.
4. crowns you with love and compassion - God's love is likened to a tent; covering us from head to toe. Who doesn't want love and compassion? In this context, the word 'compassion' is equivalent to mercy.
5. who satisfies your desires with good things SO that your youth is renewed like the eagle's - Note that it doesn't say 'satisfies your desires' BUT 'satisifies your desires with good things'. God looks at our needs and not our wants.
   

I think these verses can be pretty much taken in the wrong context. Some people just want God to be Santa Claus or a huge vending machine that grants any request as and when we desire it. These ideas lead people to become disillusioned when their requests are not granted because they do not have a right perception of God.