Blessings in Disguise

Ever hear about a guy named Jabez? He was all the rage 25 years ago, or at least his prayer was all the rage. I’ve been praying a tweaked version of that prayer for years. And it centers around redefined blessings.

Jabez and his now-famous prayer are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10. And that prayer, directed to God, began with a request for blessing: “Oh that you would bless me indeed!”

Over the years, I’ve been drawn to pray a different version of that request. “Lord, help me recognize Your blessings as You define them, not as I do.”

And as I look back, I see many examples of how He has done exactly that.

Rejection of a children’s book proposal

I received a lot of good feedback for the idea, but no takers. Still, that disappointment eventually led to co-authoring the project with a prolific author whose rhythm and rhyme made the book sing. Initial rejection was a hidden blessing because the final product was so much better than my original version.

Hip surgery and thyroid cancer

I tried to delay hip replacement for as long as possible. But pre-op testing for this undesired surgery resulted in the discovery of asymptomatic thyroid cancer. Surgery to remove the previously undiagnosed cancer became my blessing in disguise.

Traffic ticket

How could a ticket be a blessing? My first traffic ticket in 30+ years made me realize I had become complacent in my driving habits. It was a wake-up call to be more attentive to my surroundings as I drive. I expect this unexpected blessing will keep me safer as I travel.

Mold

“Mold is a blessing,” said no one ever! Yet the process of discovering mold was indeed just that. Shortly after I ordered a wall bed, I began second-guessing the purchase. Would a sofa-bed have been a wiser—and more economical—choice than buying a piece of furniture that needed to be installed?
Removal of baseboards to nail the bed to the wall revealed hidden mold. Apart from that installation, the mold would have remained undiscovered until it spread enough to result in illness months or years later.

Each experience was a blessing in disguise. Redirection of my focus away from regret or disappointment revealed a hidden or redefined blessing.

Felix Culpa

Ancient church tradition employed a Latin phrase to describe these blessings in disguise: felix culpa. Felix for happy or blessed, and culpa for fault or fall. This phrase described the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, illustrating how God brings good out of something that appears terrible. Consider what we call the day commemorating Jesus’s crucifixion: Good Friday. Crucifixion is one of the cruelest methods of execution, yet we refer to that day as good. Good because of the blessing of salvation resulting from Christ’s substitutionary atonement for our sin.

As the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:28, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Am I willing to consider that my temporary sorrows might be used for someone else’s good, and ultimately for the praise of God’s glory?

Sacrifice of Praise

I’ve often found it odd that the writer of the book of Hebrews associated praise with sacrifice when he wrote, “Through him [Jesus] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God” (Heb. 13:15).

Yet when I began to consider the concept of blessings in disguise, “sacrifice of praise” made sense. Could I accept difficult or painful circumstances associated with sacrifice as a cause for praise? To see those situations from God’s perspective?

Recognizing God’s higher ways helps me define blessings differently. This radical change of outlook is unrestricted by apparent conditions. This reminds me of what Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18).

Followers of Christ are blessed “with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3). Still, it’s easy for me to miss recognizing those blessings if my focus is limited to physical provisions. And that brings me back to my tweaked version of the prayer of Jabez. “Lord, help me recognize Your blessings as You define them, not as I do.”

Will you join me in this prayer?

*All Bible verses quoted from the ESV.