Deuteronomy 28: 11
The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity — in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground — in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. NIV
I skipped verse 10.
I’m working my way through Deuteronomy 28 and looking at all of its reminders not to worry. Verse 10 essentially says that all the people on earth will fear the people of God. I don’t want to be a source of fear or worry for others … in fact, it would be a worry to me to worry others … I don’t want to be feared. So, for me, verse 10 really is not a reminder not to worry. But, verse 11 is.
The Lord will grant abundant prosperity …
Dictionary.com defines “abundant,” as “present in great quantity, more than adequate, over-sufficient, well or richly supplied, abounding.” That’s a lot.
Prosperity is defined, “a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition, esp. in financial respects; good fortune.”
In my experience, “abundant prosperity” is all about your perspective. For some people, there is never enough … they always are looking for the next new thing … more, more, more … and our society plays on that.
But, if we are truly honest with ourselves, abundant prosperity is anything we have that meets, or even perhaps a bit exceeds, our need.
I love Costco. I love the whole concept of it. Every time I go, I’m delighted to see what new pallet of fun stuff will have been delivered there … things I could never have possibly thought that I might need are there in abundance … batteries by the case, lightbulbs by the case … everything by the case, actually.
For years, I lived in small apartments. When I lived in New York city, I had so little space that three of my dresser drawers were inaccessible. I stuffed them with off-season clothes, and closed them up … the bed completely blocked them. Each season, I would move the bed, rotate the clothes and then put the bed back.
Now that I have a bit more space, I don’t have to do that anymore. Now, I have enough closet space, and even a pantry. So, I can go to Costco, and buy a 24-pack of paper towels and a similar-sized bunch of toilet paper and pop them in my pantry so that we never run out.
Abundant prosperity.
How much do we define “abundant” by the space we individually have to fill? In New York, if I had an extra roll of toilet paper … that was abundant. In fact, you could buy single rolls at the corner store and I did that sometimes, so I wouldn’t have to store five rolls I wasn’t using.
I just counted. There are 24 rolls of toilet paper in my pantry … 24! That’s abundance.
God promises the blessing of abundant prosperity … more than we need.
Today, I’m going to adjust my perspective. I’m going to rejoice in the over-abundance of blessings in my life, and I will be thankful for all that God has given me.
That’s a lot to think about today.
365 Days of Peace 