Like a gambler’s winnings, this world often robs one to enrich another. Not so God’s blessings!
The Lord explained to His people about to enter Canaan, “The land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven” (Deut 11:10-11). Each year from May to August, the monsoons pour down enormous amounts of rain in the Highlands of Ethiopia. During this time, the tributaries of the Nile provide both the land of Egypt’s annual water supply and the sediment that rejuvenates the soil. Catching the floodwaters in pools, the farmers direct it to their fields by digging channels “by foot,” in other words, by manual labor. Ancient Egypt is used as a picture of the anti-God world system, ruled by its overlord, the devil. Thus the enriching of Egypt required the impoverishing of other nations who contributed water and sediment. By contrast, the land of Israel, the place of divine blessing, was “a land for which the Lord your God cares” (Deut 11:12). He said, “I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain…” (v 14). Christianity is not a zero-sum game, where our blessings rob someone else. In fact, God’s overwhelming generosity impels us to share the overflow of our blessings with others. But again the secret of fruitfulness, thankfulness, and openhandedness always comes back to trust and obedience. If so, Israel could enjoy “days of heaven upon the earth” (v 21, KJV). We can, too! “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness” (2 Cor 9:10).