“Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise Your Name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me.” – Psalm 142:7, NKJV

The closest I have come to real bountifulness was when I visited Dubai several years ago.

Coming from Africa where just roasted beef mchomo is a rare delicacy, I was ushered into a spacious carnival restaurant where every type of roasted meat was on the menu, including mchomo of wild animals such as crocodile, deer and rhino – from all over the world.

Waiters kept moving around tables cutting huge chunks of whatever type of meat you ask for (apart from pork of course).

I had never eaten and have not eaten since, leave alone seen, so much roasted meat in my life.

Because of the religious and social environment that we’ve been raised in, many of us tend to have a negative world view about the idea of abundance.

However, the Hebrew term for ‘deal bountifully with’ denotes the ripening of fruit trees at the same time.

Now, if you’ve been to eastern Uganda during the mango and orange season, you have an idea of what I am talking about.

In the New Testament, ‘bounty’ is used interchangeably with ‘abundance,’ which means an exceeding measure of something, way above the ordinary supply.

I believe that physical bountifulness is all part of God’s perfect will for His people.

I mean God is a God of bounty, given that everything He created in the universe is in abundant supply – the billions of stars and galaxies, billions of fishes, insects and birds, the minerals, the water, air, etc – everything is by far much more than enough.

In our meditation today, David, confined in the dingy cave of Adullam, prays for God’s intervention in his situation and then makes a bold declaration: “You shall deal bountifully with me”!

Now, given David’s dire circumstances in a cave at the time, it was indeed a massive statement of faith in God.

“I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me”

PSALM 13:6

The word ‘bounty’ was one of David’s favourite words.  In other psalms, David sang; “I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalm 13:6; 116:7).

Indeed, David enjoyed incredible bounty when he eventually became king of Israel, if the incredibly bountiful provisions that he made for the building of Solomon’s Temple are anything to go by.

In a prophetic reference to Christ’s Church age, Jeremiah 31:12 (NIV) says; “… they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD— the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds.”

Verse 14 adds; “I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be filled with my bounty, declares the LORD.”

Mark the key phrase, “my bounty”; it’s not our bounty; it is His bounty!

You remember how He fed 5,000 men (excluding women and children) with a few loaves of bread and fish and there remained leftovers that filled 12 baskets? Now, that’s a true definition of ‘God’s bounty,’ isn’t it?

I don’t know what your attitude is to the idea of living in your Father’s bounty.

Personally, I believe that there is absolutely ‘no devil in it’ otherwise nature wouldn’t have so much abundance of almost everything including gold.

Let us go ahead and believe God for a life of bounty because after all, it is Jehovah God’s perfect will for all His children (see 1 Timothy 6:17).

Prayer:

Almighty God, I will forever be thankful for Your bounty. I declare that you will deal bountifully with me all the days of my life. Yes, abundance is my portion in the Name of Jesus, Amen!