May 26
COMMONEST THINGS BLESSED
"Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread,
and thy water" Exod. 23:25
What a promise is this! To serve God is in itself a high delight.
But what an added privilege to have the blessing of the Lord resting
upon us in all things! Our commonest things become blessed when we
ourselves are consecrated to the Lord. Our Lord Jesus took bread and
blessed it; behold, we also eat of blessed bread. Jesus blessed water
and made it wine: the water which we drink is far better to us than
any of the wine with which men make merry; every drop has a
benediction in it. The divine blessing is on the man of God in
everything, and it shall abide with him at every time.
What if we have only bread and water! Yet it is blessed bread and
water. Bread and water we shall have. That is implied, for it must be
there for God to bless it. "Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy
waters shall be sure." With God at our table, we not only ask a
blessing, but we have one. It is not only at the altar but at the
table that He blesses us. He serves those well who serve Him well.
This table-blessing is not of debt, but of grace. Indeed, there is a
troubled grace; He grants us grace to serve Him, by His grace feeds us
with bread, and then in His grace blesses it.