Receiving God’s blessing does not remove adversity, trial or trouble.
Consider the “blessed” life of Mary, mother of Jesus.
Mary “blessed”
When the Lord chose to bless Mary He said through Elizabeth:
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
Luke 1:41-42
Mary then said:
My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.
Luke 1:46-49
Later at the temple the Lord also said through Simeon:
Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Luke 2:34-35
Mary’s life of blessing and adversity
It appears that Mary was the only one who journeyed with Jesus from His birth, through His death and resurrection, to the birth of His church.
Truly no one else has ever lived such a remarkable life, “blessed” with an intimate vantage point of the entire life of Jesus Christ, yet her life also included much difficulty and opposition.
Take a moment to imagine how Mary would have felt as she encountered these blessings and trials:
Once Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, she first had to deal with Joseph’s initial confusion and intention to break off their engagement, knowing she would be subjected to public disgrace if he followed through on it.
At the point of her labor, she was caught with no accomodation available, so she was forced to give birth in a stable.
Soon after the birth of Jesus, Mary and her family had to suddenly flee from Herod, who wanted to kill her baby, taking refuge in a foreign country for many years.
During the ministry of Jesus she was present and with Him as he moved amongst the people, teaching, healing and performing signs and wonders. She was in fact party to His first miraculous sign at the wedding in Cana and was in the middle of both the celebration and the conflict that surrounded Jesus’ ministry.
At the end of His ministry on earth Mary had to endure the torment of watching her son Jesus, be ridiculed, tortured and killed on a cross.
After Jesus had died she was then looked after by one of the other disciples.
She then remained part of the fellowship of believers and was present praying with the apostles as they waited for the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Mary was remarkably blessed, but it is easy to ignore or minimize the trials and challenges that Mary had to face alongside this blessing. From an outsider’s perspective and certainly at the beginning and end of Jesus’ life, Mary’s blessed life had much adversity.
However, when we look back at the words of Simeons’ blessing, we see that this blessing always contained adversity as Mary was told ‘a sword will pierce your own soul too’.
God’s blessing does not remove adversity, trial or trouble, in fact, sometimes His blessing contains adversity, trial or trouble.