As I Was Saying is a forum for a variety of perspectives to foster faith-related conversations among our readers with the goal of mutual learning, even in disagreement. Apart from articles written by editorial staff, these perspectives do not necessarily reflect the views of The Banner.
Among Chinese-speaking believers, there is a well-loved hymn that says, “The greatest blessing in this life is knowing Jesus.” This simple line expresses a deep truth of the Christian faith: to know the Lord is the greatest blessing we can receive.
For this reason, Christians often live with gratitude, remembering God’s choosing and grace. We firmly believe that having become followers of Jesus Christ, we are a blessed people.
When Blessing Does Not Look Like Blessing
Yet in the actual journey of faith, even the most devout believers will experience confusion and struggle. We do not always understand why certain circumstances happen or why they happen to us specifically. We might even ask in our hearts, If God loves us and blesses us, why do our experiences not seem to match what we think “blessing” should look like? At times, it even appears that those who do not believe live more smoothly and successfully.
This compels us to reconsider a crucial question: What is the “blessing” that God speaks of? Why do some blessings arrive through joy, while others are hidden in suffering and loss?
I cannot help but look back on God’s leading in my own life. I, too, have experienced profound loss—the sudden passing of my mother. She was an exceptionally devout believer and someone deeply close to me emotionally, as well as a vital support in my spiritual journey. When God took her home, I experienced intense grief and shock.
Abraham's Story: ‘Blessed In Every Way’
When I take my questions to the Bible, I read in Genesis 24:1: “Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way.”
When I first read this verse, I naturally feel a sense of admiration: God blessed Abraham in everything! Yet when I look back over his life, I discover a tension—his experiences do not seem to fit our common understanding of being blessed in all things.
Genesis 23 records the death of his beloved wife Sarah. Genesis 22 recounts the command for him to offer his promised son Isaac. Genesis 21 tells of sending Ishmael away.
Each of these events involved deep loss and tearing. Earlier still, he was rebuked by a foreign king because of his weakness (Genesis 20), and he had separated from his close nephew Lot (Genesis 13).
From a human perspective, these experiences were filled with pain and trial—hardly what we would call blessing. Yet Scripture still declares that God had blessed him in all things.
Since Scripture is without error, the problem does not lie in the text, but in our understanding of blessing. Romans 8:28 tells us: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
In his great wisdom and power, God causes all things—what we perceive as “good” and “not good”—to work together for the benefit of those who love him.
But when we reflect carefully and are guided by the Holy Spirit, we understand that this “good” does not refer to worldly success or smooth circumstances. Rather, it refers to the shaping and maturing of spiritual life. All that God does is first for his own glory, and at the same time for the formation of his people. The advancement of his work is the very process through which our lives are shaped into the likeness of Christ. This is the greatest blessing.
Such a vision of blessing is a spiritual insight granted to God’s people—a lived reality that those who love Him come to understand within their walk with Him.
When we reexamine Abraham’s life from this larger perspective, another layer of meaning emerges.
Genesis 23 devotes only brief words to Sarah’s death but records at length Abraham’s purchase of a piece of land. This land was his first possession in the promised land, marking the tangible advancement of God’s promise in history.
In other words, in the midst of his deepest grief, God’s plan did not pause—it moved forward. Though sorrowful, Abraham was able to “rise from before his dead” and carry out his responsibility as the bearer of the promise. This was not emotional coldness but faith—he held fast to God’s promise and understood that God’s work was greater than personal loss.
Looking across the series of his experiences, we see the hand of God at work: through loss, tearing, humiliation, and pain, his life was refined, humbled, and brought into deeper dependence, drawing him closer to God’s glory.
God’s blessing did not mean shielding Abraham from loss or sparing him from suffering. Rather, it meant making him the “father of faith,” allowing his life to be part of God’s saving work in history and making his faith a channel of blessing to all nations.
In other words, the advancement of God’s glory and the shaping of His saints are the same process. This is what we call blessing.
God’s Blessing through Tearing - My Story
In my own grief and shock in the loss of my mother, God walked with me, shaping me.
Over time, I gradually came to see this as a painful form of growth. God was not taking away my blessing; he was adjusting the object of my dependence. Where I had once leaned on my mother in many ways, I was now being led to rely solely on God. She was freed from illness and entered rest in the Lord, while I, through that tearing, grew rapidly.
Looking back, that loss became a decisive turning point in the shaping of my life, strengthening my resolve to pursue theological training and full-time ministry.
Thereafter, whether in studying theology or in church planting, challenges continued to arise. Cultural and linguistic adaptation, academic and financial pressures, immigration limitations, and ministry uncertainties often placed me on a road whose end I could not see. From a worldly perspective, such circumstances hardly resembled blessing. Yet whenever I returned to God’s Word, my perspective was reset. I knew what I was doing and for whom I was doing it. I was not building my own career but participating in God’s work—not pursuing personal achievement but responding to His calling.
I have become increasingly convinced that God’s intentions are indeed for peace and not for harm (Jer. 29:11). His work is advancing, and I myself am being shaped within it.
True Blessing: Christ! (to the Glory of God)
Today, I am engaged in church planting in the Holland/Zeeland area of Michigan. I carry a deep burden for the church being established—not merely for numerical growth, but for the formation of a heavenly vision among God’s people. We are, after all, a people who belong to heaven. If we measure blessing only by worldly standards, we will often feel discouraged; but if we view life from the perspective of God’s kingdom, we will see grace in hardship and glory in trial.
All that God does is for his own glory and for the shaping of his people. True blessing does not lie in favorable circumstances but in lives becoming more like Christ.
And when we understand blessing in this way, we can more deeply grasp the meaning expressed in that hymn:
The greatest blessing in this life is to know Jesus.
To know him, to follow him, and to live him out: this is God’s most glorious and eternal work in our lives.