Every morning when we are blessed to get up and start our day, we will experience both Blessings and Blockers. Blessings are usually easy to recognize—based on one’s level of gratitude. For some, it’s just being able to walk and know your name. For others, it has to be on the scale of a divine miracle. Either way, we see them as good things that we want to happen in our lives. Blockers are the opposite. These are the experiences that come to stop (or block) you from recognizing your blessings and praising God regardless of what comes your way. Although God allows them both, we have been given a choice and the instructions on how to meet them, how to move through them, and how to praise God for them.
Throughout my life, I have experienced tremendous contrasts between blessings and blockers. I was blessed with a 13-year marriage to my high school sweetheart then I was blocked with a 9-year divorce. I was blessed with a wonderful mother then I was blocked with her passing away. I was blessed with a beautiful house, then later my income was reduced and I was blocked with a foreclosure. Although God has shown His mighty hand in all of these situations, what I’ve come to realize is that blockers shouldn’t stop us from recognizing God’s amazing grace and power in our lives. Blockers shouldn’t stop our praise! God is ALWAYS worthy.
Actually, the blockers come to help us see just how blessed we really are in every area of our lives and they help us to see how big and awesome our God is every time they show up.
Isaiah 59:19b says “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” I’ve often wondered, what is the “standard” that the Lord will lift up against the enemy? Well, it means the Spirit of the Lord or the Wind of the Lord. If we can consider the force of water that exists because of the wind, then we can also imagine how the wind can push water in a different direction. Therefore, it stands to reason that the more powerful the water, the greater the power of the wind. I often think of “the enemy coming like a flood” as something similar to what oceanographers call “rogue waves.” These “are relatively large and spontaneous ocean surface waves that occur far out at sea, and are a threat even to large ships and ocean liners.” Rogue waves topple ocean liners!?!?! Yet God pushes them back and allows us to continue to receive our blessings!
As for the few blockers I mentioned above, my marriage was restored in 2005—now, 8 years strong; I moved into another house before I was homeless; and I can celebrate the 40 years I had my mother in my life before God healed her on the other side of heaven. God’s plan for our lives is always VICTORY. We should never lose sight of that reality. Blockers come to magnify our blessings, so let’s greet them with praise!
Challenge: Tell your blocker how great God has been in your life!