January 6, 2009

Windows of Heaven

I was reading in Genesis the other day (uh, yes, it is that time of year according to the Bible reading calendar) and came across the phrase "windows of heaven" in relation to the Flood. Genesis 7:11: "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened."

It triggered my memory of another verse in the Bible where that phrase was used, and I wondered how many times in the Bible it appeared. It appears again in Genesis, explaining that the windows of heaven were stopped. The phrase is used again in Malachi 3:10: "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

I have always associated great power with the windows of heaven being opened to create the Flood. But I never thought of it in terms of that same power in opening the windows of heaven to bless us. I was struck with the thought that since it must be the same windows of heaven, how unfathomable is God's power and ability to bless us. It's sad that I limit God and forget how powerful and limitless His blessings really are.

1 comment:

Rachel said...

That's funny, because I always think of it as the exact opposite. We always used to sing a little song in Sunday School, "The windows of Heaven are open, the blessings are falling tonight, there's joy in my soul, since Jesus made everything right."

I always tend to forget that those same windows of blessing can also bring judgment and destruction.

Good post!