Pain, Then Gain
Our heavenly Father is eager to bless us (Rom 8:32). He looks for those who, like Jesus, are dependent upon and directed by Him (Jn 5:19, 30). As He guided the Israelites through the wilderness to their Promised Land blessings, so He seeks to guide each of us through our wilderness to our own place of destiny and blessing (Ps 143:10, ESV; Ps 23:3, TEV). He gave the Israelites Scripture in the wilderness but Him directing them involved far more than reasoned application of written revelation: they moved when and where He wanted as indicated by the pillar of fire and the cloud (cf. Gal 5:25, NLT). We, too, are to be under His specific guidance if we want to enjoy our own place of blessing.
Notice that the wilderness precedes the Promised Land; the cross precedes the crown, hardship precedes harvest. This is why the apostle can say that suffering is itself God’s blessing (Phil 1:29). It is the means by which He prepares us for other blessings (Hos 2:14-15).
Family is another key means through which God would like to bless us. All families are a mixture of strengths and weaknesses, of health and toxicity. They help shape our character, can facilitate the development of our gifts, and can prepare us for our call. As we make good choices which move us toward Him who is light, life, and health, we can pass on a greater percent of blessing and health to our own children.
We ought to appreciate our blessings and thank Him for them. Hopefully, we will remember that our dry, empty, hard wilderness places are intended to be a channel of grace also – if we don’t respond in them, as most of the Israelites did, with chronic complaining, resentment, sorrow in the Divine good, and independent or merely principle-directed action.
When God wants a couple or family to alter course, the revelation is normally clear.