Turkey And Blessings

There is no telling how many of this older men who were weeping in our text, no telling how many times they strolled by that temple and never gave it a second look. Never gave it a second thought. They never considered its significance, how David had prayed so hard for it, and how God had finally allowed Solomon to build it. They never saw its significance because it was right there, just as it had always been, and it wasn’t until it was gone did they realize how valuable it was.

There’s an old adage that says, “You don’t know what you got until it’s gone!” How true that is. We tend to complain so often without realizing how blessed we are right now. I did this a couple of months ago and I want to make the same offer again.

In 24 hours, I can make you not only grateful, but ecstatic about your situation right now. Now it would be a brutal 24 hours. I would first have your boss call and tell you that you’ve been laid off from work effective immediately. I then would have an IRS agent come and tell you that you have years of unpaid back taxes and that your house and property will be seized. I then would have a friend who you trusted call and tell you that all your children have been involved in an accident and not one survived. I then would have your spouse confess to you that they’ve been having an affair and have decided life would better without you. I then would have a pastor who you have always trusted call and tell you that he’s been doing some more studying and he has realized that the bible is wrong, there is no life after death.

Now after those 24 hours are up, and you have sanked deep into depression, I then would tell you that it was all made up… you still had your job, your house, your family, your marriage, your health and your home in heaven, it was all made up, not one bit of it is and after you came to your senses, and after you slugged me…you’d be thrilled with your situation as it is and you would no doubt give thanks to God for what you have.

Now if we are so blessed, why is it then that we often fail to realize it? Well I think the main reason is that we are taught in many ways to be discontent with what we have. We’re taught not to focus on what we have but rather on what we don’t have. Now there is a lot we don’t have. But I guarantee you that a lot of what you don’t have is just what you want to have and not what you need to have, right. God has provided for our every need. You may not have all you want, but you have all you need. Often we get the two confused. Comedian Ken Davis said that he saw his daughter with a string tied around her tooth and the other end tied to a doorknob. So he said, "Let me examine that tooth", Why it’s not even loose! His daughter looked at him and said, "Leave me alone Dad, I need the money!" We get the two confused.

I read this week that the average American is exposed to 3,000 ads a day, and their sole purpose is to make you feel so dissatisfied without their product that your life would be incomplete without it. We got to have this to be happy, or have this and that.