He Really Does

 

He will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great. Psalm 115:13

I just got off the phone with a proud grandma.

She has a granddaughter who is engaged to be married.  Several months before the wedding her fiancé won a trip for two to the Dominican Republic through his work.  A married co-worker won the same trip. Everyone was thrilled. But…the company offered only one room per couple and the unwed couple could not afford another.

This young, engaged couple decided that it would not be prudent to go together as a couple before they were married. She would miss this trip but, hopefully, there would be others in the future.

A few weeks before the trip, the wife of the co-worker called the fiancé.  She suggested that the women could share a room and the men could share a room, allowing the engaged couple to take the trip without “even a hint of immorality.” (Ephesians 5:3, NIV)

All four were able to go and enjoy the trip!

Our first reaction is to think what a kind gesture it was for the married woman to give up a room with her husband to offer this young, still single, woman the opportunity to go on the trip and enjoy the time with her fiancé. Not everyone would be willing to do this.

If we look a little deeper, we can see how God was at work. He blessed this young couple’s stand for their purity by giving them the trip in spite of apparent obstacles.

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.” Deuteronomy 11:26-28

I know that not everyone will see the blessing as clearly or as quickly as this young couple did. When the Lord makes a promise to His people, He keeps it. This story gave me such a boost of hope. God is still at work blessing those who will obey Him. What a great promise!

And yes, this means He must be cursing those who will not obey Him.

It would be fun to know how the Lord blessed the other couple for their willingness to sacrifice their own comfort for two of His people. I am fully convinced that it was His idea.

We have decisions to make every day. Will we be among the blessed who obey God – or among the cursed who refuse to obey Him? And, are we willing to be used of God as vehicles of His blessings?

God blesses obedience. He really does.