Count your blessings. Perhaps you’ve heard this phrase before, either from your parents, your grandparents, your pastor or that friend who always has something positive to say in horrible situations.
Perhaps, you’ve had enough of hearing it.
Count your blessings.
I lost my job. Count your blessings, at least you still have a roof over your head.
Things are really tough at work. Count your blessings, at least you have a job.
My food is running out. Count your blessings, at least you have water.
Stop complaining and count your blessings.
Well the truth is, maybe you don’t want to count your blessings.
Sometimes you’re just so fed up and worn out and you just want to be angry. You want to be miserable and throw yourself a pity party just because no one else seems to get it.
Sometimes you feel like you don’t have the strength or even the desire to count your blessings because honestly, you just don’t feel blessed.
These are some of the hard emotions we go through as Christians. The emotions we are sometimes afraid to admit to others, to ourselves and even to God. But guess what, God understands. After all He is the one who tells us that tribulation is promised. And He knows that tribulation is supposed to make you feel troubled.
Tribulation Will Trouble You
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 (NKJV)
I wonder if some Christians have come to dread hearing this verse, it’s quoted quite often in hard times and trials, often by a well-meaning someone attempting to encourage you. But the funny thing is that hearing this verse doesn’t necessarily make the tribulation easier or better or lighter.
The tribulation stays troubling and you become just a little bit annoyed at the person who quoted it. Thanks but no thanks, you might think or dare to say.
Again, God understands because He understands the nature of tribulation.
You see what you may not understand about tribulation is that it’s supposed to be troubling. It’s supposed to make you angry and fed up. It’s supposed to wear you out and make you cynical about everything and everyone, including God. Tribulation is supposed to trouble you.
So when you start feeling troubled, don’t be surprised or ashamed. But one thing you must not do is stay in that state.
As much as it can be hard to believe, Jesus really has given us the ability to be of good cheer in the midst of trouble and that He has overcome the world really is significant and powerful for us believers.
Jesus Overcame So You Would Not Be Overcome
The truth that Jesus has overcome the world means that the world cannot overcome you. Tribulation cannot overcome you.
It cannot beat you, crush you or defeat you. It can try to, but it cannot steal your peace, your joy or your hope. Not if you stand in the authority given to you by Jesus and prevent it from doing so. (Luke 10:19)
Jesus overcoming the world means that you actually do have the strength to actively look out for the goodness of God and count your blessings.
To Count Your Blessings is to See God’s Goodness
God is good. This is another popular statement in the Christian realm that some can find hard to believe in difficult times. But it’s true, God is good.
As much as His wrath is fierce and His judgement is true, He is patient, compassionate, loving, kind and good. And His mercy and goodness does follow us. (Psalm 23:6)
But it’s up to you to make an effort to actively look out for it. That’s why you should count your blessings. Doing so does not mean you pretend that you don’t have a problem because faith does not deny the existence of a problem. But faith sees beyond the problem.
Faith sees Jesus on the cross overcoming the world.
Faith sees the Enemy ashamed.
Faith sees death defeated.
Faith enables you to see yourself as victorious even in the midst of tribulation.
Faith looks out for the goodness of God and faith sees it.
It sees that yes you are worn out and exhausted but God is keeping you alive.
Faith sees that yes, you are in pain and your heart is broken but God has not left you and He never will.
It sees that yes, your journey is challenging but you are walking it with the Shepherd.
It’s not easy to do this. But faith born of God moves mountains and does the impossible, never mind the difficult.
As Christians, we must count our blessing that is, we must actively look out for the goodness of God because that is how we remain hopeful.
Holding On To Hope
If you surrender to that troubled feeling, if you surrender to anger and bitterness, if you surrender to cynicism you will lose hold of faith. You will lose hold of your peace and you will lose hold of your hope.
Yet as Christians, we live in perpetual hope. Hope of Jesus returning. Hope that there will be an end to suffering and death. Hope of eternal life. And the Word of God promises us that this hope will not disappoint.
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5 (NKJV) )
So because this is true, you can keep hoping even in the midst of tribulation. You can believe that you will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. You can actively look out for that goodness. And by the strength God has given you, you can count your blessings knowing that more will come.
