God’s Concerns Are Our Concerns

Yael Eckstein  |  December 27, 2022

Blessed are those who have regard for the weak;
    the LORD delivers them in times of trouble. —Psalm 41:1

One of the founding principles of The Fellowship is God’s eternal promise He made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you.” This is one of 12 devotions exploring the concept of blessing, barak, which is so important to both Christians and Jews.

The Bible is filled with countless verses about blessings and curses — blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience. Everyone wants to be the recipient of God’s blessings, but all too often we focus on material blessings — a surprise check in the mail, a bigger house, perhaps a nicer car.

While it’s true that God blesses those who He deems worthy, and we all want to be worthy, we need to be careful not to let our desire for blessings turn into selfishness.

Probably the best-known blessing from God in the Bible is God’s promise to Abraham — “I will bless those who bless you,” (Genesis 12:3), the verse that is the foundation of The Fellowship’s work and mission. But this doesn’t mean that blessing the Jewish people is like a vending machine — you put some money in and out comes the good stuff! Rather, the point of this promise is that God wants us to care about the things that He cares about. He wants us to love what He loves. He wants His concerns to be our concerns.

What God Cares About

And it’s not just about blessing Israel. We read in Psalm 41: “Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the LORD delivers them in times of trouble. The LORD protects and preserves them; they are counted among the blessed in the land…” (vv. 1-2).

As God cares for the weak, oppressed, and vulnerable, He delights when we demonstrate concern for them, too. When God’s concerns are our concerns, He promises to bless us with protection and deliverance. This makes sense. When we deliver the weak and vulnerable from hardship, God does the same for us. 

We can be sure that God notices our obedience. Even if it does not seem like we have many blessings — even if life seems difficult at the moment — God has not forgotten us. Sometimes we may need to focus on the many blessings He has already bestowed on us.

It may simply be a matter of counting our blessings to know that we, indeed, are “counted among the blessed in the land” (v.2).

Your Turn:

Bless the people of Israel, and the needy and vulnerable, by sowing into the work of The Fellowship today. And as you do, let me know in the comment section below how God has blessed you!