True Blessing – 1

Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." (Lk.11.27-28)

The teaching and miracles of the Lord Jesus were a cause of amazement to many people. They had never heard nor seen such great things before. More than once the gospel writers tell us that the people were amazed and astonished at the things Jesus did. On the occasion recorded in the verses above one woman was so overcome by her surprise that she cried out from the midst of the crowd while Jesus was teaching. She could not control her emotion. Her surprise at what Jesus was doing and saying made her cry out in amazement.

The woman's words tell us what she was thinking at the time. She blessed the woman who had brought Jesus into the world because she was glad to be hearing Jesus teach and to be watching Him do wonderful miracles. To this woman it was a glorious experience to be where Jesus was doing wonderful things. It was marvelous to her to hear Him silence the scribes and Pharisees by His words. She blessed the one who gave the world this amazing Person.

The Lord Jesus gave her a surprising answer. She expressed some degree of praise to Him but He does not seem to accept it. In fact, He contradicts the woman's statement, saying that she had a wrong perspective on things. It is certainly true that the Lord Jesus is an amazing person and that His teachings and miracles are glorious. However, simply seeing His works and hearing His teaching is not true blessing. Indeed, there were thousands who heard and saw what this woman did but who were never truly "blessed."

What then, does Jesus say true blessing is? "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it." True blessing is something related to the Word of God. It is not merely an experience of happiness, surprise or any other emotion. Such emotional experiences are temporary and unpredictable. They come and go and we cannot depend upon them. If true blessing is only an emotional experience, then most of the time it is quite impossible to be truly blessed. Most of the day we are busy with our jobs, our children, our schoolwork or other responsibilities and cannot stop to think about our happiness. On the contrary, if a person is always thinking about his happiness, he will not be blessed at all. Furthermore, he will be unable to have any useful role for God in this world. He will be so busy with himself that he will not have time for God or man.

If you were asked what true blessing was, what would you say? Would you talk about wonderful experiences of God’s help in trouble? Would you mention God’s provision of some great need in your life? Would you think of wonderful experiences of God’s love and forgiveness after falling into sin? These things are blessings indeed. But how many of us would answer this woman as Jesus did? How many of us would think that true blessing was being enabled to understand and obey the Word of God. That is what Jesus thinks it is. Do you?

Blessing!