A chapter from my next book, Being Human
I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. (Romans 15:29)
When I lived on Jeju Island in Korea, I went cycling almost every weekend. Jeju is famous for its wind, and depending on its direction, a ride could be either pleasant or grueling. With the wind behind me, I barely needed to pedal. I could relax and enjoy the scenery. But when I rode against the wind, I pedaled hard and still made little progress.
Life often feels the same way. When we have a tailwind, things go well and our efforts bear fruit. Opportunities appear, people help us, and problems turn out to be easier than we expected. But with a headwind, we work and work without getting very far. Everything seems to require more effort than it should.
Psalm 127 describes how we depend on God for the external situation:
Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. (Psalm 127:1–3)
Without God’s help, even our greatest efforts can accomplish little. With his blessing, we can work without being consumed by anxiety. We can rest because the outcome does not depend entirely on us. The point is not that work is unnecessary, but that work alone cannot secure everything we need.
The passage also connects God’s provision with children. Today, many people say they cannot afford to have children. Yet throughout history, people have raised large families even in poverty. Financial concerns are real, but children are a blessing from God. Waiting until every financial uncertainty has disappeared can mean waiting indefinitely. We need wisdom, but we also need confidence that God can provide for the children he gives us.
In the Bible, blessings and curses help us understand these spiritual tailwinds and headwinds. Blessing enables life to flourish. A curse brings frustration and barrenness. The difference is not always visible in how hard we work. Sometimes it lies in whether our work is being sustained by God’s favor.
Blessings and Curses in the Bible
Blessings and curses are central to the biblical account of our relationship with God. When God created human beings, the first thing he did was to bless them (Genesis 1:28). When he called Abraham, he promised to bless him and, through him, to bless the world (Genesis 12:2–3). Blessing was part of God’s purpose from the beginning.
When Jesus ascended to heaven, he blessed his followers, and he was still blessing them as he departed (Luke 24:50–51). I find that image deeply reassuring. His final act before leaving them was an expression of favor and care. I believe he continues to bless us from heaven.
The first explicit curse appears in Genesis 3, when God cursed the serpent for leading humanity into sin (Genesis 3:14). The people who yielded to the temptation also suffered its consequences. From that point onward, Scripture shows both the goodness of living under God’s blessing and the devastation that follows rebellion against him.
What is a blessing? The Greek word eulogia and the Latin word benedictio convey the idea of speaking well of someone. At the heart of blessing is an expression of favor, an affirmation that carries authority.
A passport offers a helpful comparison. My South Korean passport contains this statement:
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea hereby requests all those whom it may concern to permit the bearer, a national of the Republic of Korea, to pass freely without delay or hindrance and, in case of need, to afford him every possible assistance and protection.”
That document has allowed me to enter many countries without a visa. The officials do not know me personally, but they recognize the authority behind my passport. Its written affirmation opens doors that would otherwise remain closed.
A blessing works in a similar way. When you carry a blessing, you find welcome, assistance, and opportunity. A curse has the opposite effect. You encounter resistance, suspicion, and rejection. Even ordinary tasks can become unexpectedly difficult, as though every door has someone standing behind it to keep you out.
In the Old Testament, blessings and curses are closely tied to obedience. Deuteronomy states this clearly:
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known. (Deuteronomy 11:26–28)
God did not leave this as an abstract teaching. He instructed Israel to enact it when they entered Canaan. Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal as the blessings and curses were read aloud (Deuteronomy 11:29; Joshua 8:33–34). The whole nation was to hear and remember the choice before them.
Deuteronomy 28 describes the consequences in detail across sixty-eight verses:
And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. (Deuteronomy 28:1–3)
The warning follows:
But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. (Deuteronomy 28:15–16)
The message to Israel was unmistakable. Obedience would bring blessing throughout their lives, while disobedience would bring consequences throughout their lives. Their relationship with God affected everything.
In the New Testament, Jesus stands at the center of our understanding of blessing. We are blessed because of him:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:3)
God has already blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. There is no deficiency in what he has provided. Yet we do not always experience the fullness of those blessings, so we pray for his promises to become a reality in our daily lives.
Many people live without expecting to experience God’s blessing. They accept their circumstances as normal and never ask for anything different. Instead, we can pray, “God, you have blessed me with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Help me experience that blessing today.”
Notice, however, that Paul says “every spiritual blessing,” not “every material blessing.” If we understand blessing only in terms of wealth and health, we fall into the error of the prosperity gospel. That teaching assumes Christians should always be rich, successful, and free from suffering.
By that standard, both Jesus and Paul would have been failures. Yet both were deeply blessed, even as they suffered in obedience to God. Blessing cannot be measured simply by comfort, possessions, or outward success.
The Bible also speaks plainly about curses and judgment. Amos gives us a vivid picture of inescapable trouble:
as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. (Amos 5:19)
The man escapes one danger only to encounter another. Even when he reaches the apparent safety of his home, a snake bites him. This captures what life under a curse can feel like. Every attempt to escape trouble seems to lead to more trouble.
Amos was addressing people who oppressed the poor and corrupted justice while continuing to hold elaborate religious ceremonies. Their worship could not excuse their wrongdoing. When God’s people persist in what displeases him, they cannot assume that religious activity will secure his blessing.
Protection, Provision, and Relationship
God’s blessing often appears in everyday life through protection and provision. Theologians use the term “common grace” to describe God’s goodness toward the whole human race. Jesus says that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). His care extends even to those who do not acknowledge him.
I believe this common grace has preserved humanity from catastrophe many times. We tend to notice disasters when they happen, but we rarely consider how many disasters may have been prevented.
Since the development of nuclear weapons, we have lived with the possibility of destroying civilization. The film A House of Dynamite explores how frighteningly close such a disaster can seem. During the Cold War, several confrontations brought the world dangerously close to nuclear conflict.
One of the most sobering occurred on October 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet submarine B-59 was operating near Cuba and had lost communication with Moscow. Its captain, Valentin Savitsky, reportedly feared that war had already begun and considered launching a nuclear torpedo.
Vasily Arkhipov, a senior officer aboard the submarine, opposed the launch and helped prevent it. Had events unfolded differently, the consequences could have been catastrophic. This was only one of several dangerous moments during the Cold War when a decision made by a few people could have affected the entire world.
I do not see humanity’s survival as merely the result of human wisdom or good fortune. I believe God’s protecting grace was at work, often through people who may not have recognized his involvement.
As Christians, we also learn to recognize God’s care for us as his children. Looking back on my own life, I can see many instances of his protection. Without that care, I do not know where I would be today.
Once, after completing military boot camp, I went home for a brief vacation. On Monday, I boarded the wrong bus while returning to base and became completely lost. It was rush hour, and I could not find a taxi. I began to panic because returning late could bring serious punishment.
Then, just when I needed it, a taxi appeared. The driver took me to camp, and I arrived just before the deadline. Someone else might regard that as good luck. To me, it was a small but memorable expression of God’s care.
On another occasion, I was staying at an Airbnb in Ukraine when a neighbor knocked on my door. He wanted to know whether there might be a gas leak in my flat. I checked the kitchen and discovered that the gas was on, but the stove’s flame had gone out. Without his intervention, the situation could have ended in an explosion.
God’s care has also appeared in smaller, sometimes amusing ways. While backpacking through Europe, I visited Cambridge and used a guidebook to find the cheapest youth hostel. This was before smartphones and widespread internet access, so I asked an English gentleman for directions.
As he explained the route, I realized he was directing me to a different hostel. Out of politeness, I listened and thanked him. I planned to find my original choice once he left, but he stayed to see whether I followed his directions. Feeling obligated, I went where he had pointed.
The hostel turned out to be the YMCA. It cost slightly more than the place I had chosen, but the price included a breakfast buffet. Then the staff accidentally assigned me to a room shared with a woman. When they discovered the mistake, they apologized and moved me to a private room at the shared-room rate.
I ended up with a comfortable room and a generous breakfast for very little extra money. As the Village People sang, it was “fun to stay at the YMCA.” I believe God used that gentleman to lead me there, even though I initially thought his directions were unhelpful.
When I first joined Youth With A Mission, or YWAM, in France, I did not know how long I would stay. Eventually, I felt God clearly calling me to join the staff of the Discipleship Training School, or DTS.
There was one major problem. I had taken a one-year leave from university, and staying longer could mean losing my place. Even so, the call seemed so clear that I decided to remain in France, whatever happened to my studies.
Soon afterward, my mother called. She had visited the university and discovered that its policy had changed. I could now take an additional semester of leave. The timing was perfect. I stayed in France, then returned to university and eventually completed my degree.
Something similar happened when I entered graduate school. I had no money to cover my studies, yet I felt an unusual peace. Soon, the department office informed me that I had received a full scholarship for my first semester. Since I had only just enrolled, the award could not have been based on my grades in the program.
I received another full scholarship the following semester. When none was available for the third semester, I planned to work as a teaching assistant. At that very time, the Korean government introduced a program providing scholarships and stipends for graduate students in the humanities.
The program began precisely when I needed it. I received its support for my final two semesters and completed my degree without a financial burden. The government discontinued the program shortly afterward. Looking back at the sequence of events, I have little doubt that God was involved.
YWAM workers serve as volunteers and often have limited resources, yet they regularly experience remarkable provision. Over the years, YWAM bases have acquired properties through generous donations and owners willing to sell at favorable prices. The organization’s locations in Amsterdam and Harpenden are examples of the provision that has supported its work.
Such experiences are not limited to YWAM. Many Christians who step out to serve God discover his provision along the way, sometimes through events so ordinary that others would hardly notice them.
A friend of mine graduated from one of Korea’s leading medical schools but now runs a small restaurant and bookshop because he believes God called him to serve in that way. One day, when I visited him, he was worried because the restaurant had run out of kimchi. For a Korean restaurant, that was a serious problem.
A few hours later, a nearby pastor called. The church’s refrigerator had broken down, and the pastor needed to give away some kimchi. Would my friend like ten kilograms?
My friend received more than food that day. He received a reminder that God knew what he needed. The provision mattered, but so did the assurance that he had not been forgotten.
God’s blessing also comes through relationships. God said of Adam, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18), and created Eve. From the beginning, God treated human isolation as something to address.
The psalmist says, “God settles the solitary in a home” (Psalm 68:6). Through Isaiah, God also promised:
“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 54:1)
I have experienced this blessing through my own work. When I finished my first book, The River of God, I hoped it would be translated into many languages. However, I had little money to offer translators.
Eventually, thirty people agreed to help, accepting less than full payment because they wanted to support the project. Their generosity made something possible that I could never have accomplished alone. I remain deeply grateful for them.
Jesus promised:
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29)
When Christians welcome one another and love one another as family, we see that promise taking shape. God often answers our need for belonging through the people he brings into our lives.
The Gospel for the Greedy?
At this point, you may wonder whether this teaching is simply another version of the prosperity gospel. But I do not support the prosperity gospel, because it is not gospel at all.
The prosperity gospel reduces faith to the idea that God should help us get everything we want. Greed becomes the real object of devotion, while God becomes a means of satisfying it. That reverses the relationship Scripture calls us to have with him.
God does want to bless us, but his blessings often look different from what we expect. In Matthew 5, Jesus calls the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and those who suffer persecution blessed (Matthew 5:3–10).
These are not conditions we would naturally choose. Yet Jesus teaches us to recognize God’s favor even there. A blessed life is one lived in relationship with God, including when that relationship leads us through hardship.
Some people are called to manage wealth, while others are not. Pain and failure can also serve a necessary purpose in God’s care for us.
The Pixar film WALL-E imagines a future in which robots do everything for human beings. Freed from the need to exert themselves, people become so obese that they can barely stand. A life without difficulty has left them unable to function.
Something similar can happen spiritually. If God removed every obstacle from our lives, we might never develop humility, perseverance, or dependence on him. What seems like a blessing in the moment could ultimately weaken us.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul describes “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited” (2 Corinthians 12:7). Three times he asked God to remove it, but God did not grant that request.
Paul came to understand that God was working through the very weakness he wanted to escape. Having received extraordinary revelations, he was vulnerable to pride. His suffering kept him humble and dependent on God’s grace.
This was not what Paul would have chosen. Yet God’s care reached beyond his immediate comfort. We, too, must learn to trust that God’s purposes may be better than the outcomes we would choose for ourselves.
Authority to Bless and Curse
If blessing brings protection, provision, and relationship, then its absence may be experienced as vulnerability, lack, and isolation. These experiences do not automatically prove that someone is under a curse, but they can prompt us to consider our need for God’s care.
In The Road Less Travelled, M. Scott Peck describes a boy whose mother died in November when he was eight. In November of the following year, the boy fell from a ladder and broke his upper arm. The next November, a bicycle accident left him with a fractured skull and a severe concussion. At eleven, he fell through a skylight and fractured his hip. At twelve, he fell from a skateboard and broke his wrist. At thirteen, he was hit by a car and sustained a fractured pelvis. Each accident occurred in November.
In discussing accidents and grace, Peck raises a striking question. Given the many dangers surrounding us, perhaps we should wonder not only why accidents happen, but also why they do not happen more often. He came to see grace as a protecting presence in human life.
Peck was not yet a Christian when he wrote the book, but his spiritual journey eventually led him to Christian faith. His growing awareness of grace helped shape his understanding of God.
I believe the words of authority figures are another significant source of blessing or harm. Anyone can speak words of blessing or curse, but the words of a parent, teacher, mentor, or pastor carry particular weight. We naturally care more about the judgment of someone entrusted with our care than about a stranger’s opinion.
I believe that influence also has a spiritual dimension. An authority figure’s blessing can matter even when the relationship is strained or the person is not a believer. I know a YWAM leader who faced a series of unexpected problems and went to his father to ask for his blessing. His father was not a Christian, but the leader believed that a father’s blessing carried real spiritual significance for his children.
Parents do not usually curse their children explicitly, but Scripture gives us examples of curses spoken within families. Noah, for instance, cursed his grandson Canaan after Ham, Canaan’s father, dishonored him (Genesis 9:25).
Many children also grow up without one or both parents and miss the affirmation and blessing those parents might have given. Others may care for them deeply, yet the absence of a parent or parents can still leave a wound.
A friend of mine grew up in an orphanage and remembers much of it fondly. He enjoyed the outings, and he describes the staff as loving and caring. Yet his transition into adult life was difficult. After leaving the orphanage, he joined a group that became involved in attempted criminal activity. By God’s grace, he was caught. That arrest may have saved him from a life of crime. Today, he is a missionary with a family of his own.
His story reminds me how important the blessing of parents is. Still, we do not have to worry if we grew up without one or both parents. As we saw above, God blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). If you feel something is missing because of your experience of absent parents, you should hold unto his promise of every spiritual blessing.
Generational Curses
Many Christians regard generational curses as especially dangerous. They understand these as curses passed from one generation to the next, affecting descendants regardless of their own choices.
Certain difficulties do recur within families. Some illnesses have an inherited component, and patterns of addiction, relationship breakdown, and financial instability can continue across generations. These patterns are real, even when their causes are complex.
The Kennedy family is often cited as an example. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. died when his military aircraft exploded during World War II. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, as was his brother Robert F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy Jr. died with his wife in a plane crash in 1999. It is little wonder people speak of a Kennedy curse.
Still, we should be careful not to become preoccupied with generational curses. When a disease runs in a family, inherited biology may help explain it. Addressing it may require attention to diet, exercise, and medical care, rather than assuming that a curse must be broken.
Reducing every problem to a spiritual cause can lead us away from a balanced Christian understanding. In some forms of animistic belief, misfortune is routinely attributed to offended spirits. A Korean shaman, for example, almost always tells a client that ancestral spirits are angry and require a ceremony to appease them.
Christianity recognizes spiritual realities, but that does not require us to disregard physical causes or ordinary responsibilities. Prayer does not eliminate the need to work, study, or seek medical treatment. When we face illness, we can consider lifestyle, family history, medical care, and prayer together.
The same applies to relationships. Someone who grew up in an unstable home may carry wounds that affect adult relationships. Those wounds need care and healing. Emotional maturity and personal growth remain essential to building a healthy family, whatever happened in previous generations.
Exodus 20:5 speaks of God “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.” I understand this as a warning about sin’s far-reaching consequences, rather than a declaration that descendants are automatically guilty of their ancestors’ wrongdoing.
God addresses individual responsibility directly through Ezekiel:
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18:20)
We should take sin seriously because it affects other people, including future generations. But we need not believe that our ancestors’ actions have doomed us.
Above all, we must remember what Christ has done:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (Galatians 3:13)
Jesus bore both our sin and the curse of the law. A close friend betrayed him. Religious leaders conspired against him. Pilate handed him over despite recognizing his innocence. He was tortured and put to death in public shame. Everything about his death appeared to mark him as a cursed man.
Yet by bearing that curse, he secured our freedom. Our confidence rests in his finished work, rather than in fear of what may have passed down through our families.
Even so, we sometimes experience persistent difficulties that feel like a curse. Certain family patterns can seem almost impossible to escape. I think this is one of the areas in which our experience does not yet fully reflect what God has promised.
We encounter that gap elsewhere in the Christian life as well. We believe God’s promises, but we do not yet see their fullness. That gives us a reason to pray with hope rather than resign ourselves to defeat.
After studying this subject, I began praying daily:
“God, thank you for your promise of blessing in Jesus. You have blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Help me experience that promise in my life. Thank you that Jesus bore the curse for me. I pray against lack of provision, sickness, and loneliness, and I ask for your care in each of these areas.”
As I have prayed, I have noticed a clear change in my relationships. I used to keep to myself, but now I find it easier to spend time with people. I am still an introvert, and I do not expect to become an extrovert. But being introverted does not mean I’m condemned to the life of loneliness. God wants me to enjoy relationships with others. This prayer has helped me become more open to that blessing.
Receiving Blessings and Avoiding Curses
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ, and Jesus has borne the curse on our behalf. Yet many Christians struggle to experience those blessings. Some feel as though their lives remain under a curse.
I believe our choices and actions affect how we experience what God has given us. Psalm 1 describes a blessed person this way:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1–3)
This person turns away from evil and delights in God’s instruction. His life is rooted in what nourishes it, like a tree beside a dependable stream. Then, it’s only natural that he experiences God’s blessing in his life.
Other choices lead us away from that blessing. One is the worship of other gods. Moses warned, “You shall not go after other gods,” and explained the danger: “lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 6:14–15).
Paul makes a related distinction when discussing food offered to idols. He explains that “an idol has no real existence” (1 Corinthians 8:4) and permits believers to eat food sold in the marketplace without investigating its history (1 Corinthians 10:25). But participating in idolatrous worship is another matter:
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. (1 Corinthians 10:21)
When the issue was eating food offered to idols, Paul was lenient. But when it is about joining in devotion to another god, he was very strict. We need to recognize that boundary and remain faithful to God.
Another obstacle is allowing insecurity to direct our decisions. When fear convinces us that God cannot be trusted, we may try to secure our future in ways that lead us away from him.
Abraham and Sarah’s experience illustrates this danger. God had promised Abraham offspring, but Sarah remained childless. She proposed that Abraham have a child through Hagar, her servant. Abraham agreed, and Ishmael was born.
Thirteen years passed between Ishmael’s birth and the next recorded appearance of God to Abraham (Genesis 16:15–17:1). When Abraham tried to resolve his uncertainty through his own plan, God answered him by being silent.
In The Healing of Persons, Paul Tournier tells of a woman who married an older businessman because she feared financial insecurity. Soon after the wedding, the man’s business failed, leaving her in the very difficulty she had hoped to avoid. Decisions driven by anxiety usually fail to provide the security we seek. We need to bring our fears to God and learn to act from trust.
We also need to consider whether we are pursuing what God has actually called us to do. I have learned this through my own mistakes.
In 1996, after returning from France to finish my studies, I began investing in stocks. At first, I did well. Then the Asian financial crisis struck in 1997, and the Korean stock market suffered enormous losses. Years later, I tried investing again. This time, the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out my investments. Through these experiences, I came to believe that making money through investing was not the path God had given me.
This is a personal conclusion about my calling, rather than a rule for everyone. Living as a missionary on a limited income is not always easy, but it is the life I believe God has called me to. I need to trust him within that calling instead of assuming that another path will provide greater security.
Finally, ingratitude can keep us from recognizing and receiving God’s blessing.
In Seinfeld, George Costanza often behaves as though the whole universe is against him. Nothing seems to go his way, and every disappointment confirms his view of life. His outlook captures the feeling of living under a curse.
The character is associated with the show’s co-creator, Larry David, whose own career has been extraordinarily successful. After Seinfeld, he created Curb Your Enthusiasm, another widely acclaimed series. His comic persona, however, always finds something to complain about.
At the 1993 Emmy Awards, he reportedly remarked, “This is all very well and good, but I’m still bald.” Even an evening of public recognition supplied material for dissatisfaction.
That attitude can be entertaining in comedy. In everyday life, however, it can blind us to the good we have received. Some people seem determined to find a reason for disappointment, whatever their circumstances.
Scripture calls us toward a different response:
The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God! (Psalm 50:23)
Paul likewise urges us to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Gratitude helps us recognize God’s care and remain open to his gifts. Ingratitude keeps our attention fixed on what is missing, until even abundant provision seems insufficient.
As we turn away from idolatry, bring our fears to God, follow his calling, and practice gratitude, we become more ready to experience the blessings he has already given us in Christ.