Like so many other things in life, we often assume what God must mean by something. We take our own experiences and project what God must mean when we find similar words and concepts in his Word.

We know we are blessed, but when we don’t feel blessed, we have difficulty accepting the possibility God might be blessing us amidst the struggles and difficulties. We consider the situations that seem good to us to be blessings and those which don’t seem good to us to not be blessings. Surely, God wouldn’t consider blessings to be uncomfortable!

What does Jesus say about blessings?

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a hill and sat down. His followers came to him,and he began to teach them, saying:

“They are blessed who realize their spiritual poverty,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
They are blessed who grieve,
for God will comfort them.
They are blessed who are humble,
for the whole earth will be theirs.
They are blessed who hunger and thirst after justice,
for they will be satisfied.
They are blessed who show mercy to others,
for God will show mercy to them.
They are blessed whose thoughts are pure,
for they will see God.
They are blessed who work for peace,
for they will be called God’s children.
They are blessed who are persecuted for doing good,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be blessed.Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did the same evil things to the prophets who lived before you.” (Matthew 5:1-12)

So among other things, blessings are involved in poverty, mourning, hunger, persecution, and false attacks.

We don’t define blessings; God does. Perhaps you can recall a situation in which you wouldn’t have recognized a hint of blessing when you were in the middle of the chaos but, looking back, you see God’s hand providing and guiding through the mess. God meets us and blesses us where we are.

Getting what we want isn’t the blessing. Getting what God wants is.