Handling Blessings and Increase

In my Sunday message; “Lessons From Elijah”; I mentioned what looks like a contradiction concerning blessings and increase.  In Proverbs 10:22 it says, “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.”  Then in Luke 12:48, Jesus says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Jesus is teaching in parables and is talking about a faithful and wise manager who oversees the servants in his occupation. 

Notice that the words “demanded” and “asked” (other translations say “required”) are used.  If we are working for a company, we understand that the more we are promoted, the more will be expected of us.  With an increase in rank comes an increase in demands which means more is required of us.  In my Sunday message, my first point was, “There Is A Flip-Side to Many Blessings”.  When we get more of what we want we will also usually get more of what we don’t want.  More responsibility can mean more stress/ more notoriety means more haters/ more influence means more criticism/ more children can mean more stress, bills, and worry/ more money can mean more problems, and so on.

I have found that whenever God blesses us and brings increase to us, it gets the attention of the enemy.  We see this with Joseph and his fancy coat that stirred up the jealousy of his brothers.  We see it with David who was applauded for killing his tens of thousands only to have King Saul rise up in anger and try to kill him with a spear.  And we see it with Jesus who healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, and had the multitudes follow Him.  This stirred up the jealousy of the Pharisees who tried to find a way to kill Him.  Yet we are told in Proverbs that “the blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.”   

Elijah also experienced trouble when he declared drought and then killed the prophets of Baal during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel.  Right after Elijah’s greatest feats of increase and victory, Jezebel made the threat to Elijah that she would make sure he was dead within a day.  Elijah ran for Mount Carmel and in anger, depression, and defeat asked God to kill him.  Notice that God then sends a mighty wind, an earthquake, and a fire….but God was not in any of these.  Then came a peaceful, still small voice.  This was where God was.   God displayed the explosions of the earthquake, wind, and fire to show Elijah the condition of his soul.  Elijah represents a preacher who has worked too hard, taken too much upon himself, and thinks he is the only one who can get the job done.   

I have found that when we do things God’s way and, in His timetable, when the blessings of increase comes, His grace accompanies it.   The difference between Elijah and Jesus is that when Elijah experienced his biggest opposition his soul was troubled, when Jesus faced His, it was not.   There was an inner working of God and the Holy Spirit that kept Jesus in peace right in the face of opposition. 

When Jesus told His disciples that His yoke was easy, and His burden was light he caused them to picture an ox with a yoke.  This ox has been promoted from calf to servant.  He has entered his destiny and is now experiencing increased responsibility, requirements, and demands.  But he is also experiencing increased food, hay, ease of dwelling, and rest.  The good news is, the yoke he bears fits perfectly and is easy to work with and the burdens he bears are light and easy to haul.   

This speaks to me of God’s grace that works when we are doing what He has told us to do and because of this, an increase is coming.  He will likely cause me to increase in responsibility, notoriety, revelation, influence, children, finances, goods, and more.  Each one of these arenas of increase that I do want to have the potential to cause me to increase in what I don’t want.  This is where I find that the grace of God is sufficient for me.   Yes, I have more responsibility, but there is grace for it.  Yes, I have more influence and notoriety which has even caused some to oppose me, but there is grace for it.  Yes, I even have more children and now, more grandchildren, who get sick, need presents and attention, make wrong decisions, and do dangerous things, but there is grace for it!  I have found that Jesus’ words, “to whom much is given, much is required” aren’t a warning of ramped-up stress and worry I should be aware of.  It is rather an announcement that I will be operating in a new arena of increase, but His grace is sufficient for me.