God’s supplemental insurance policy, Part 4

How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. The Lord will protect him and keep him alive, and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; and do not give him over to the desire of his enemies. The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed; in his illness, You restore him to health.”  Psalm 41:1-3

This entry is the fourth of a series. If you haven’t read the first three parts, go ahead and scroll down and read them first. There are qualifications to be met in this policy; you need to determine if you want to pay the price before you take advantage of it.

How blessed is he who considers the helpless…he shall be called blessed upon the earth.

An interesting aspect of the #PS41-1-3 insurance policy is that it provides coverage for the reputation of the holder. I know of no other policy like it.

However, having taught eighth grade for over two decades, I became very familiar with an obsession that gripped many of the youth I taught—and indeed much of the culture: FAME. At any cost. A huge majority of my young teens craved to be famous and wanted to grow up to be known by the masses as the “it” singer, dancer, musician, basketball player, football player, actor, actress, model, or stand-up comic. For so many of them, the district’s mandated career education curriculum was valuable only so long as it could support their dream of popularity and renown. And during my career, as social media became more widespread, the intensity of this obsession only increased.

…he shall be called blessed upon the earth.

Fame, wealth, and popularity add up to being “blessed”, right? In the minds of many Americans (and even Christians), the answer to that question is YES. Yet, how many famous individuals do we hear stating their thankfulness for all their blessings—their fame and fortune—and then they appear nude in their next film, video, or photo shoot, or they end up on the wrong side of the law, cussing out some fan, striking a photographer, resisting a police officer…or taking their own life?

I wonder if we really “get it” as a society anymore.

So many precious, talented young ones from Christian homes have been “blessed” with fame and wealth; yet sadly, their lifestyles all too often decry the God they once said they loved. Instead of despising these individuals, however, my heart groans for them to see truth and to turn back to the God of their childhood. Are the adults in their lives, for fear of judging them, enabling the demise of their talented prodigies as they plunge unchallenged into destruction? Ezekiel 33:6 comes to mind: “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman’s hand.’”

What does “blessed” mean, then? Perhaps, in light of our culture’s current use of that word, it’s helpful to take a look at what it doesn’t mean.

Jesus said this. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way” (Luke 6:26). Evidently, having others speak well of you isn’t always the same thing as being called blessed in the earth. Sometimes, popularity is not a great thing; sometimes it is an indication of being an accomplished man-pleaser.

Ask a few of the heavyweights in the Bible about popularity. How about Joseph when he was thrown into the pit and imprisoned? How about David when Saul sought to hunt him down and kill him? How about Moses when he fled into the desert from his fellow Israelites in fear of their rage at his attempted intervention? Ask Jeremiah about popularity when his prophecies were called false by the leaders of his time, and he was placed in stocks (see Jeremiah 20) or thrown into a cistern (see Jeremiah 38). Ask the apostle Paul if he was the most popular preacher of his day. Ask the Lord if He prioritized popularity during the three years of His earth ministry.

Indeed, Paul said this about the sum total of what others would call his personal blessings: “…whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7). As for being called blessed during his own lifetime, other Christians said of Paul, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible” (see 2 Corinthians 10:10).

How blessed is he who considers the helpless…he shall be called blessed upon the earth…

Discern your own life by God’s standards. You may not always feel blessed; others may not always perceive you as blessed; but if you honor God in considering the helpless, you are blessed whether it is apparent or not.

There’s a stark contrast between the one who ministers—often secretly—to a needy soul and the one who is obsessed with how he appears to others. When you consider the helpless, you will be called blessed upon the earth—perhaps not by others, but most definitely by the Lord. “And your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly” (Matthew 6:4b).

In this age of glitz, glam, and greed for prestige, you are free not to walk in lock-step with the false values by which this culture derives its measure of worth and effectiveness. You are free to obey God, however He may lead you—and as you go, consider the helpless. The door to true blessing—the eternal variety—will open before you. And no man will be able to shut it. Ask Joseph, David, or Moses. Ask Jeremiah or Paul. Ask Jesus Himself.

Consider the helpless, and your blessings will be blessings indeed.

Dorothy

How blessed is he who considers the helpless…he shall be called blessed upon the earth…