Can Satan Bless You?

JEREMIAH 44

Verses 15-18: Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods…said to Jeremiah, “We will not listen to the Lord! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”

My husband said something in a sermon years ago that I had never heard before or really ever thought of. It struck me so strongly that since then I have been quite cautious of my blessings. He said that Satan loves to bless us and that sometimes our blessings that seem to be from God are really not. That sounds odd doesn’t it? Yet if you will bear with me I will prove to you this statement.

A young family came to us years ago asking my husband and I to pray with them about a new venture they were about to embark on. They had struggled financially for so long and with babies coming in the near future they wanted to be prepared without burden. This couple impressed me because when it came to debt they had none. They budgeted well. They wanted to stay on top but without the worry of whether there will be work or not.

They began their own business having to step out in faith. They weren’t sure how they were going to get enough clients to keep them afloat. Then the blessings started coming. Clients came from every direction. God was blessing them, so it seemed. The income was flowing in steadily. Praise God!

The problem was that they had so much business that they no longer had time for family, God, or church. The blessing from God became a blessing from Satan. No blessing from God will take you away from Him or your family. Busyness comes from Satan. And his blessings are meant for harm.

The acrostic for BUSY is Being Under Satan’s Yoke. Satan knows how to entice us. He sneaks in making us think that our blessings are from God therefore we must be in His will.

The Israelites were so steeped in sin that they too enjoyed the blessings they had. They were offering sacrifices to a Queen who was not THE God and were getting blessed by it. They were well fed, prosperous and healthy. Sound great to me. Yet when God’s discipline came upon them they lost everything. That made them angry. They saw no need to repent when the grass was greener on the other side. Yet the end result of their blessings was not a Queen who could save them from an eternal hell. She may have blessed them while on earth but blessings that are not from God are temporary and quite harmful.

I urge you to take inventory of your blessings. Test them. If they are keeping you from your relationship with God or filling up your time so you can’t go to church, if these blessings are putting your family on the back burner then get rid of them. Only seek those blessings that will honor God and cause you to grow in His wisdom.