A couple of months ago I got to be the weak link on a triathlon team, thanks to my husband’s still-healing stress fracture. Jon did the hard parts, the swimming and the biking, and my job was to run the 5K. Because Jon is a strong swimmer, and the race used a delayed start, I got to take off on the run portion smack in the middle of the top athletes. For a brief moment, I was ahead of some of the fastest runners in the community. In fact, I wish I had pictures of myself… leading… Then reality set in, and I think seven or ten of them passed me before I finished.
Each time it happened the same way. I heard the footfalls behind me. Then came the sense that someone was close. This was followed by a momentary delusion that maybe I could speed up and stay ahead. Of course, this yielded to the inevitable. “Good job,” they said as they passed, and they meant it. Speedy runners are a nice bunch.
In Deuteronomy 28, Moses is winding down his last instructions and admonitions for the nation of Israel and in verse 2, he says, “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
I like that image. God always blesses obedience, but He doesn’t just throw blessings out there and if we’re lucky we’ll run into them. No, He makes sure they catch us.
Think of it. All these blessings.
We can’t outrun them or get away from them. He promises they will overtake us.