Be grateful for what you don't have

Exodus 15:25b-26

After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites run out of water to drink, and they are grumpy about it. Then they find some bitter water, and God commands Moses to throw a log into the pool, making it sweet so they can drink. God has rescued them again, and now has some instructions:

There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.” (Exodus 15:25b-26)

God was giving the Israelites important instructions for life. He wanted them to listen to Him. He wanted them to make good choices. He wanted them to understand His laws. The Israelites’ reward for this behavior would be an avoidance of all of the plagues and afflictions and hardships God had created for the Egyptians, which they had seen first-hand. God frames “healing” as prevention as much as liberation.

We can easily think of God’s blessings as things he does for us. He bestows success on our businesses or careers, or provides help when we really need it. He delivers nourishment or good weather. He creates a sense of peace or heals us from sickness. But this passage asks us to consider God’s blessing as an absence of difficult conditions or situations, to affirm the avoidance or evasion of an event. He asks us to consider the blessing of what doesn’t happen.

Can you identify difficult situations that haven’t happened in your life, your family, or your family business? How do you voice your gratitude to God for what has been averted?