Blessed is

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

BLESSED IS

Prov 28:14

14 Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

NIV

We have seen this term, blessed is the man, several times throughout the scriptures. Our first thought runs to Psalm one,

Ps 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

NIV

We could write a book just on the many times God says, “Blessed is the man”. It is so important to see how we are blessed in so many ways.

Ps 32:2

2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

NIV

This one surely tells us of our need to have a heart for God as when we come to him through Jesus, our sins are forgiven. Not just some of them, not just the ones we committed in the past, not just the ones we commit today, but all our sins for the whole of time, once we became a born again believer in Jesus Christ. It is not that we should willingly go about finding sin to commit just so we can be blessed by God not counting them against us. In some sense that would be deceitful and we are not to have any deceit in our spirit, especially with God. So we always fear the Lord, and that is not being afraid of him, but rather reverencing him or to stand in awe of him. But at the same time that word translated fear is also to be in dread, which would be knowing the power of God and how he is the one who controls our lives, that has the power of life and death over us. The idea of this proverb is we are blessed when we trust in God, we understand his sovereignty in our lives. But we are cursed when we put our trust in our own abilities, our own strength for that is turning our heart away from God, that would be hardening our heart and in doing so we will surely fall into trouble. When we do not fear God, when we do not reverence him, when we do not stand in awe of him and put our complete trust in him, not just for salvation, but for every aspect of our lives, we have hardened our heart. Let us always have a soft heart in tune with God. Let us allow the Spirit to work in our lives. Let us allow Jesus to live his life through us expressing himself in us as us. Surely we will be blessed.