In our household there are a lot of eager young people that need constant attention and training. Just last week, I was working to train the girls in cleaning the house and doing laundry while my wife was away. They all pitched in to pick up things around the house, match socks, and they even cleaned their room “all by themselves”. It was a successful day of training (although the quality of the work still left something to be desired). As a result, I told them that we would do something special as a reward for their good work – and an incentive to keep them enthused the next time they were asked.

Many of us view God in much the same way. The Bible tells us that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). So, when we see blessings in our lives, we know that they come from God. The thing we often assume is the answer to WHY - Why does God give us blessings? Here is where we often confuse God’s blessings to us with His rewards for our good works. Now, while works will never get us to heaven, God does reward us both in this life and in the life to come for our good works. Because we are used to rewarding each other for good things they do in this life, we naturally assume that is how God confers His favors to us as well – in accordance to the extent that we are good servants for Him. But that is not always the reason why God decides to bless us. Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 9:1-8.

God was about to give the Israelites a conquest of their promised land that they were not equipped to gain on their own. They had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, had no standing army, no permanent dwelling, and no military force. Whatever good was going to happen to them was clearly going to be a blessing from God. They were about to go in and conquer the people that were established and dwelling in that land (and equipped to defend it). However, God makes the point to tell them that this enormous benefit and blessing they were about to receive was not a result of their own goodness or righteousness. In other words – it was a blessing, but NOT A REWARD. He is specific in telling them how bad they had been, calling them a “stiffnecked people” (v.6), that they provoked the Lord and were “rebellious against the Lord” (v.7), that He was “angry” (v.8) with them and almost destroyed them. If these things were true, then why was He about to bless them? It was because He was faithful to His promise to Abraham and because of the “wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.” (v.4) In other words, it was for God’s glory that the Israelites should possess the land and He would drive the wicked nations out. They were not worthy of what they were about to receive, had done nothing to deserve it, and would do nothing to attain it. It was God’s work for His glory and they would simply be the beneficiaries of His master plan because they were His people.

Let us not confuse God’s blessings with His rewards. Yes, there are times when we may receive something from the Lord because of our faithfulness and fervent prayers to Him. However, blessings in life are not always a reward for our goodness. Just like the warning to the Israelites – may we not think too highly of ourselves. The great magnitude of blessings in our lives are not deserved. Sometimes blessings in life are simply a “side-benefit” of allowing ourselves to be instruments in God’s bigger plan. Remember that as Christians we are members of God’s family and joint-heirs with Christ. How could we expect anything but blessing and goodness from our God and heavenly Father who “owns the cattle on a thousand hills” and the “wealth in every mine”!