Willingness to Receive

Receiving blessings from God has at least as much and probably more so to do with our willingness to receive the blessings as it does with God's willingness to bestow them upon us. If we imagine ourselves as a bucket and the blessings of heaven as rain, if we want to maximize the amount of rain we receive, then it's on us to make sure we orient ourselves properly so that we can catch as much rain as possible. That's why obedience brings blessings. When we live a righteous life, we've got our bucket pointed the right way up to receive God's blessings. The rain is coming down all the time, and even if our bucket is upturned or on its side, we are still receiving the rain, it's just not doing us as much good as it could if we were being obedient and had a grateful and humble and open heart to receive God's blessings.