Many believers tell me that they are 'blessed' so they must be practicing church correctly. Allow me to describe how you can feel blessed yet not be following a biblical command:
King David was going to be King. His heart was one 'after God's own.' God chose David after Saul was exposed as corrupt. God had said that the people will want a King in Deuteronomy 17. It is important to note that this was the people's design and nowhere does it say that God wanted Kings. The criteria for a King in Deut 17 was high expectations for a sinful man. However it was inevitable. In 1 Samuel Chapter 8 we see Deuteronomy outworked. The people asked for a King.
Systems and Structures
The Lord tells the people through Samuel that the socio-political and economic nature of the land and its people would be affected by this move. Nevertheless the people wanted to 'be like other nations.' It's easy to minimize this occurrence but it is actually cataclysmic for the nation. Please click this link for the principle of Mediatory Substitution. Suffice to say that this system of Kings creates a structure that brings about oppression for people. Because David was a 'good king' we think that having a mere Man leading the people was God's idea. It seems to me from 1 Sam 8 that it was a compromise, yet an inevitability. The ideal would be for God to lead them and in the course of time God does come as a man. Jesus is King right now but this comes to fulness when he takes his Glorious Throne in Jerusalem. What has this to do with feeling blessed yet not being obedient?
"Sonship v Practices"
David the man had a heart after God's own. David the King was in a system chosen by the people and was therefore not the best idea. So when David the man approaches the Lord he would feel blessed as he is deeply and comprehensively loved. David's Psalms are 'a son' expressing his heart to his Father in heaven. So David the man/son is blessed. However this all takes place in a context of appearing in a system that is just tolerated by the Lord. What he was, a son, was not what he did, reign as King. So he could mistakenly think God was underlining his Kingship by his sense of personal blessing. To complicate things further God also blessed his Kingship because it involved war and managing the Kingdom. We must divide between the two and be clear about what God is blessing and God uses what he can work with.
Today
What we find today is blessed people serving in a church system and structure that is not ideal. I think the Lord works with what he can and some blessing is seen in this kind of church. However it would be error to discern personal blessing and take it as a big green tick for everything we are about. You are blessed as a son but the minimal blessing you see in your church is just tolerated. Plus we are so easily satisfied with the trickle of blessing we see in most gatherings. Of course there are those who make the church into something attractive and see much growth but thats another topic for another time.
Now lets expose the 'elephant in the room' here. Ive tried to divide how God blesses but the aim of our walk is not personal blessing anyway! We must be obedient to the Lord even if it involves a level of distress, which the process of moving towards Biblical church does.
Gary Ward
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