|
"Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation! Selah" (Psalm 68:19, NKJV).
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits ... literally, "day, day;" that is, "day by day;" or, "constantly." He enables us to triumph in Him, and through Him.
On the surface, it would seem as if we are to bless God for loading us down with His benefits or profits. In our 21st century culture, we find benefit programs that can help pay for medications, health care, food, utilities, and more.
The words "with benefits" are not in the original, and they do not convey the true idea of the passage. Though trying to be helpful, the King James translators may have led us astray.
The word rendered "loads" means: "to take up; to lift, as a stone" (Zech. 12:3); "to bear, to carry" (Isa. 46:3); "to take up and place upon a beast of burden; to load" (Isa. 46:1); and "to impose or lay a heavy burden or a load on one" (Gen. 44:13); The idea here is, "Blessed be the Lord God, even if He lays a burden on us daily, for He is the God of our salvation." He enables us to bear it; He gives us His strength as He delivers us from it.
Though, therefore, He lays on us a burden, He empowers us to bear it through Himself. He does not leave us. He enables us to triumph in Him, and through Him--and might I say, FOR HIM.
The fact that God puts the pressure on us is similar to my electric pressure cooker. Putting things under pressure shortens the cycle necessary to produce the desired results with minimal effort and time constraints. I can now cook a pot roast "crock-pot-style" in less than an hour as compared to "overnight."
Efficiency and God are not mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, God is the epitome of efficiency. Consider this: instead of sending out for bids and then choosing the lowest bidder to do the Creation Project, God merely spoke it all into existence. No need to order gazillions of tons of soil, sand, and stone; He did it all through the Process of Ex Nihilo (from or out of nothing).
God said, "Light!" And there was! (Gen. 1:3). Need we say more? Efficiency is the Elohim's middle name--so to speak. Neither waste nor want plague Creator God. And this is His perfect Will and plan for us as Exchanged Life Believers.
On the average, it takes Him 70-80 years to build a man or woman of God. During the ongoing process was Him skillfully doing His perfect work.
It is the real LOVE STORY and it is FOREVER. We begin to tell this story of how great His love can be. None of us--even as Exchanged Life Believers--can 'hold a candle' to the Lord of Love and the Creation. "Can't hold a candle to someone" figuratively means "not to be equal to someone; unable to measure up to someone else"--in this case, Almighty God. Here's why... read more here
Send this writer a Note of Encouragement: Click Here
Pastor "Dos" Carter (Georgia, USA) is a contributing writer for IOM America--Transformational Biblical Worldview & Exchange Life Development. He is also VP of Digital Communications.
Permission obtained from author to republish: Loaded Down with the Benefits of God. Copyright � 2013, 2015 by Bruce Wayne Carter (AKA Pastor "Dos" Carter). IOM America's editorial changes to original authorized by author.
1 Poem based on "When God Wants to Drill a Man" anonymous author, modified by Pastor Bruce "Dos" Carter.
Scripture note: Changes made to verse [i.e. bold, indent, underline, parentheses...] are by this article's author for emphasis &/or clarification.
Scriptures marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, � Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scriptures marked NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright � 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
| 
