You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance. They drop on the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy, they also sing. (Psalm 65:11)
As we come to the end of this psalm, David concludes with a description of what God’s blessing upon the earth looks like. Coming down as rain, God’s blessing causes the wilderness to become a pasture which, in turn, provides for the wildlife that calls the wilderness home. Likewise, the hills and the valleys below burst forth into fruitfulness, thus providing for all its inhabitants. In other words, when God initiates a blessing, in this case by causing it to rain, the blessing is not necessarily restricted nor limited to one area. If He desires it to be so, the blessing will expand and permeate a much larger area enhancing the lives of man and beast.
In that vein of thought, let us consider what was spoken to Abraham long ago: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you … and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). Just as rain falling on the hills will flow into the valley to water its fields and orchards, the blessing that God placed upon Abraham and his seed was intended to be a blessing to all nations.
In short, God’s people are to be a reservoir of spiritual blessing from which the peoples of the world can drink. Obviously, we are not the source of the blessing — the Creator is the source for all good things — but to some extent, we are to the conduit through which those blessings flow. If that be so, how important is it that we continue walking in humility and obedience before our God? Can we expect unlimited blessing if we are not following the path that leads to life and blessing? If not, when we fail to fulfill our purpose, others will suffer the consequences along with us.
True, God can cause it to rain in the desert, and at the same time, withhold rain from the hills and valleys but, where His people are concerned, that is not His will. God desires to “pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it” — so that we may be a blessing to those we have been sent to. Consequently, we are challenged to walk as Abraham walked, which is to say, we are to believe God and walk before Him in obedience and holiness — for our sake and for the sake of so many others.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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