To be blessed is to be happy,favored,prosperous,etc.But it has a secret,sacred emphasis all its own;for the favor and prosperity are such as only God himself can bestow.Who would not desire to be blessed of God?Most people mistake the whereabouts of blessedness.It is not in wealth,rank, power, talent, ,health, pleasure,admiration, friendship or even a combination of all these.It is often found where least expected; among the trial,temptations and the storms of life.
Blessedness is not in our text connected with ease,freedom from trials or the absence of temptation. Untested treasures may be worthless;not so those which have endured the fire.How can you feel blessed if you fear that something could come along and take your blessing.Blessedness belongs to those who endure test,these have faith,they have life which bears trials,they possess uprightness,purity,truth, patience; and all these are blessed things.Blessedness belongs to those who endure trials out of love to God.Blessedness belongs to those who are proved true by trials.Those who have endured trials inherit the peculiar blessedness: Of being crowned.Crowned because they are victorious over the enemies. The crown of life, a living crown of endless joy,promised by God to them that love him.
"Blessed" that is, already blessed.Aflictions do not make the people of God miserable.There is a great deal of difference between a Christian and a man of the world: his best is vanity(ps.39:5), and a christians worst is happiness.He that truly love God may be sometimes afflicted, but he is always happy,because he knows his God rides in the mist of his storms, and thus he is blessed to go through them with such a loving God.
Anything which causes you to call on the name of the Lord is a blessing!
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