Jesus was giving the Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:17-26), where He talks about those who are blessed in their poverty, persecution and suffering in His name.  In the study, we are told that the original Greek for the word “blessed” is makarios,  which means “blessed, possessing the favor of God, that state of being marked by the fullness from God.”  It seems to suggest that those that are suffering (sometimes greatly), and still cling to their faith, are favored by God.  This was something I’ve never really considered…God showing favoritism.  However, Beth explained it in a way that really made sense to me.

I have two daughters.  I love them deeply and equally.  However, when one is sick, hurting or in trouble, she has my attention.  There is more nurturing that pours from me toward that child until things are right again.  I don’t love the other any less, but I put my focus, my favor, on the child in need.  Sometimes, too, my kids have to go through hard things, things I wouldn’t wish for them, but situations that are necessary for them to grow.  I’m here to walk them through it and encourage them.  I show them favor and try to bless them as much as possible in that season.  So it is with God.  

Doesn’t your heart just break when someone you love seems to be heaped with burden after burden?  Don’t you just want to cry out to God and say, “can’t You just give them a break?”…”they’ve had enough…where’s Your mercy?”  Maybe it’s you in that situation and you feel like one more straw will break that proverbial camel’s back.  I would encourage you with a visual based on the following verse that I got this week in my study:

Imagine that person (yourself) with the burdens, going out under the broiling summer heat to toil in the dry, hard fields.  Those burdens are heavy, and you know your Master could say the word and lift them from you, placing you in a shady glen, near a cool, tranquil pond. But, even though He could, He hasn’t.  So you keep at this work He’s called you to, and you keep believing that He must really want you here if He hasn’t taken you out.  You work that hard soil and sow the seeds He’s given you.  It’s difficult, exhausting.  You think you might not make it, but you press on, watering the seeds with your tears.

As you follow Him each step of the way, the Master’s favor is on you in a special way because He knows how hard this task is…He knows.  One day, you straighten up…your sack of burdens is empty…the seeds have all been sown.  Turning around, you see that the Master’s favor has poured through your tears and nourished the seeds, giving you a bounty of joy that you could never have produced on your own.  

Blessed are the heavy-burdened, the broken-hearted, the valley-walkers, the pit-dwellers…when you follow Him through these hard and lonely places, you are among His favorites.  He promises to be with you in an even more focused way. He will be faithful to turn your tears into a great harvest of laughter and joy.