God Blesses Abundantly in Judgment

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Image from The Longest Straw.

Many would raise the eyebrows at this--do you know how you're so blessed when God judges you? And the blessing is this---he judges you to spare you from bigger trouble. That's a powerful blessing. The judgment doesn't seem a blessing now (especially if you don't understand God) because, first, he scolds you. Second, he corrects you. Third, he tells you the gloomy picture if you go on with your error. And fourth, learning often comes with pain and suffering. 



To the carnal person, this is NOT good. This is pure punishment. And carnality also makes you hate the guy used by God to pronounce the judgment. This is why a lot of folks hate preachers who hit hard against sin and so with the friend or church member who seems so particular about how we live and behave and questions us on these matters--and we hate him when he does that--not knowing that the guy is being used by God to check or remind us. 

You know why we hate these "judgmental" people? Because what actually happens is that, God's judgment hurts the ego.

But there are others who are just plain self-righteous and really judgmental when the try to do the Holy Spirit's job of convicting sinners, while they themselves are guilty of sin (a sin they work hard on hiding or covering up), often the sin of Pharisaical pride and self-righteousness. I'm NOT talking about them. I'm talking about those genuinely used by God to judge sin and the sinner (yup, "and the sinner.")

And there you have a problem. Everybody hates judgment. If you're a pastor and you preach against sin---and some people in church get offended---they'd say you're judgmental and they'd hate you for it. But you see, in both the Old and New Testaments, God always used persons---his servants---to declare his judgments. If God himself would declare the judgment, you'd simply drop dead. You won't be able to stand it. Trust me. So in his grace, he uses people who deeply believe in him and obey him. Most people do not understand that judgment is God's grace and love. It's a blessing.

In fact, one of the top three blessings.

The misunderstanding gets worse if you correct some church members personally and they happen to be prominent, untouchable people. Those purported to be "givers" and "supporters." The long-time members they call "elders" 😆. Whatever that means. They love this dialogue: "Don't be judgmental!" And they follow this up with: "You don't know what I'm going through!"

It's the anti-judgment spirit (or demon) that first affected Ahab and Jezebel who hated Elijah for his judgments against their reign of terror, then second, the demon that hated John the Baptist and murdered him for his judgments against the illicit affair of Herod and Herodias.

But really, these judgments were delivered prophetically so they could repent and turn to God and be so blessed beyond their imagination. When will people finally realize this? God blesses abundantly in judgment if only they humbly listen and repent. The judgment they hate actually comes from God, not from the servant who declares or releases it.

But they'd quote Jesus and say, "Do not judge." Well, Jesus didn't say it's bad to judge. He said it's not right to judge others when you're guilty of the same sin, or any sin for that matter. You first remove the plank of wood from your eyes before you remove the speck of dust from your brother's eye. 

Those who understand will say together with the Psalmist that:
I know, LORD, that your judgments (or laws) are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. [Psalm 119:75]
And again.... 
For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. {Isaiah 26.9]

And again...

I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. [Psalm 119.7]

For declaring God's judgments to correct erring people:

With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. [Psalm 119.13]

And finally, see how the Psalmist loves God's judgments...

My soul breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times. [Psalm 119.20]
God's spoken Word is His judgment. 

Jonah said God will destroy Nineveh in 40 days unless they repented. Imagine that judgment. It probably even sounded arrogant to some carnal ears. Here was a nobody from Israel telling people in a super power country, Assyria, that they were all wrong and they were all wicked! That God was angry at them. Imagine some unknown figure going to your country and saying you're all a bunch of crooks and scammers, and God is angry with you. But they believed Jonah. So they got blessed. I wonder what would happen if Jonah is sent today to the church?

Nineveh repented and was spared from sure destruction. What a BIG, BIG blessing!

Here's an Interesting Aspect of It

Now, here's the really exciting part. If you listen wholeheartedly to God's judgment and repent, sometimes nothing happens. We often expect to get rewarded for our obedience. But then, after repenting, life seems to just go on as usual. If you've been an underdog for somebody, you go on being that. If you've been financially broke you go on being broke. Sometimes even more broke. So it doesn't make sense. 

You thought there was reward in obedience. While you see the unrepentant and wicked go on being prosperous and comfortable. They get more "blessed." Money and favor continue to come to them without sweat. They become the models of success and smart living. And you? They tell you how you need to attend their webinars.

Now, don't get me wrong here. Truth is, in this situation, you're more blessed than the wicked (even if they go on being more moneyed) and the wicked are actually condemned, though not obviously. And this is how God's judgment works. He kind of withholds blessings from the righteous and releases it gradually (or discreetly) so it won't be so obvious to the wicked. Often, God wants it to look like the righteous receive nothing so that the wicked will see no point in paying heed to God's judgments and instead revel in their wickedness. The wicked only "repents" when their flesh is hurt (or when their riches or treasures get affected), as in the case of King Ahab.

Your seeming unblessedness is a test to the wicked, to see if he'd repent. But in truth, YOU ARE BLESSED, though seen only by those with eyes open to God's Spirit realms.

By this the hearts of men are revealed. Will you love God's judgment even if no reward seems forthcoming or will you just love it if it brings obvious blessings? Will you listen because the judgment hurts or punishes your flesh, or will you listen because you love God despite the hurt (or even if there seems to be no punishment forthcoming)? Humans always go by their ego and flesh cravings, not love for God. When the wicked sees that the righteous do not seem rewarded--or wickedness seems to go unpunished--they go on with their wickedness since they seem to get more blessed and get away with evil.

For instance, God has kept the rich man busy with his fortunes.
"He seldom reflects on the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart," (Ecc.5). 
Paul also said God gives chronic, hardened or incorrigible sinners "over to the sinful desires of their hearts" [Romans 1.24]. He just allows them to wallow in their sins unchecked, enjoying life, letting them like that until judgment suddenly catches up with them in the end. And while they're at it, they look blessed because nothing wrong happens to them. They even get "blessed" and become rich. If they're pastors, their ministries may even grow more than yours.

I've seen wicked people enjoy riches way beyond their needs, thinking themselves blessed and favored by God, so they never search deeper into their hearts to see deep-seated wickedness there to repent from. They settle in their comfort zones, their religions (even born-again religion) and their church attendance and involvement. It's a trap. 

When God sees that you are beyond repair and beyond repentance (John says there is a sin that cannot be forgiven) he blinds you with comfort zones and lots of material blessings and privileges to keep you so preoccupied, too busy with enjoyment and success to reflect on your spiritual condition deeply and truthfully. He makes you feel too "blessed" to think seriously about repentance and a genuine holy life. Thus, the more the blessings in wickedness, the more you get comfy and confident with it, the more you cling and the more you become blind. But the closer you get to danger when final judgment comes. 

The more you're trapped.

If you are intimate with the Judge, you know how he works. You know how he judges things and how his value system operates. You'd know that his judgments are his love, and vice versa.

The righteous, on the other hand, receive meager supplies of blessings---although they are truly blessed and favored in God's eyes (remember the rich man and Lazarus?)---to appear unblessed to carnal people. In this way, the wicked are dissuaded from following the example of the righteous, because the wicked gauges everything in money terms. If you do not have a lot of money, you are not blessed, you are under judgment and you do not please God. That's how they think. If you have no money, you're probably doing things in your life wrongly. That's how carnal people see it.

They say, if a church has little or no income, it is not blessed. And because rich churches are blessed financially and materially, then they must be doing the right thing. That is the blessing principle of the wicked, and that money-value mentality will lead them to a terrible final judgment. There is a way that seems right.

Get out of the worldly mindset and get God's mindset. Click here.

If you correct them, they first look at your lot in life. Are you financially well off? How much money is in your bank? How big is your house? Or how big is your ministry? How much do you make? If you have something to show, then you must be in the right track. They might listen. If not, they won't believe a thing you say. They may be "touched" or "blessed" by the message, but they won't buy it. 

The problem is when the righteous get confused with God's judgment. And sometimes it can get crazy, like in the case of Job when he seemed accursed (when in fact God delighted in him), thinking that God was punishing him. And also Jesus when he was crucified and cried, "Why are you abandoning me?" (when in fact God was "well pleased" with him). And look at how the Psalmist Asaph put it:
But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
This righteous believer almost stumbled and quit when he saw the wicked so blessed.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
their evil imaginations have no limits.
When you see people drowning in blessings yet living in sin--blinded by their comfort zones--they have signed up themselves for their dismal final judgment. They look blessed but they're not.

But look at how God blessed Job and Lazarus and Jesus in the end. And remember how the prodigal son got back his rich robe and sandals, ring and place in the family the moment he repented. He was judged by God but he was blessed when he heeded.

You are really powerfully blessed when you heed God's discipline, rebuke and judgment. These are all his love for us. And he always gives his judgments through his Word spoken by a man of God led by the Holy Spirit, and who prophetically releases it to us. God's intention, first and foremost, is to bless us abundantly.
I'm a learner, observer, a silent critic, and sometimes a writer. I love to cook.