BLOCKED BLESSINGS

“After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.”
Job 42:10

I personally am not one to play video games often. Yes, I have a version of air hockey and Cut the Rope on my phone, but they are there mostly to entertain me when I am waiting in line at school on days when I pick up the kids. At home, however, it is a rare thing to find me playing videos games and working to save the world. For my children it is a different story. It seems as though they are so set on saving the world via the game system that to deny them is a sin in their eyes. That said, there have been many times when I have had to put my foot down and not let them play. In my eyes it is not that I am trying to be mean, but rather am pointing them into other behaviors that are not so addictive. Sometimes in my stance, however, I my denial of playing the games leads to an attitude issue and ultimately a taking away of the system altogether for some time.
I share all this not to inflict you with my methods, but to ask a question. As I have seen in my kids, so I wonder. How is it that my children think having a tantrum with me over a video game system is going to make me change my mind and give it back? How is the child being mean in action to me going to make me think, “Oh no, I should give it back so this will stop?” If anything, it only goes to prove my point that they are consumed and need a break. Yet, while I am not addicted myself to the game system, I still find myself grumbling, complaining, and throwing a fit at times when God asks me to cease something. Do I think that my fit will make Him change His mind and grant me what will spoil me?
This question became more real to me as I was reading through the book of Job early this week. When the devil came before God in Job 1, God gave permission for the enemy to test Job’s faith in hurting his family and possessions. Disaster happened and Job took it in stride, not once cursing God. Frustrated perhaps, the devil came a second time before God and was given permission to inflict Job as long as his life was spared. This time Job suffered pain, depression, and a host of instances. In all this, Job did not curse God. He cursed the day of His birth (Job 3:3), but never God. His wife even encouraged him to let go of his faith and curse God in Job 2:9, yet he did not. With so many reasons to throw a tantrum to try to get his way, Job did not. Truth is, Job took it in stride.
I once heard it preached that our complaining only stops the blessing that is coming to us. Let us think about this in the angle of what I experienced just yesterday. Having taken the system away over the weekend based on attitudes and such, I was prepared to return the game system to the children, with an understanding of what games I was going to allow to be played. When the attitudes began to fly again about why I would not allow violent games to be played in the home anymore, and tantrums began to be had again with negative words being spoken and over-dramatic crying fits being played out, I simply disconnected the game system again and returned it to my hiding place. I was all ready to bless the children, but their complaining once again blocked the blessing. This example once again speaks of me. Job, in his phase of testing, did not throw a fit. I, when I cannot have my selfish way, act like a child and kick and scream and in so doing, block the blessing that is coming.
In the end of Job we read that Job’s attitude brought forth a double blessing on him. Is it safe to say that our attitudes too could produce a blessing on us? If we can understand as parents that we are not going to ‘reward’ our kids for their negative actions and tantrums, then we should be able to understand that we too are not going to receive the blessing God wants to bestow on us when we act childish to His rules, ways, and disciplines. What does grumbling and complaining get us? Nothing. It honestly gets us cut off from the blessing that God wants to give us. So then I wonder, how many blessing have I been denied based on my attitude? How many blessings have I ceased simply because I threw a tantrum? I am embarrassed to know the answer to this, but encouraged now to change my attitude so that I do not prevent any more blessings to come.