Nougat 22

Is there a difference between blessing God and blessing other humans? Consider Today’s Holy Nougat

“I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Blessing God

Yesterday, during the Geneva Moravian Lent services, the preacher spoke about past memories. The main text was from Psalm 103; which begins ‘Bless the Lord oh my soul’. In the exposition, she noted that the Hebrew word used for ‘bless’ in that context is ‘Baraka’, which is directly connected to an act of worship. In fact, it suggests that one prostrates oneself before one/something greater than oneself.

As I typed, I literally had an image of someone fawning over a royal leader tongue on boots style, and almost chuckled at them trying to remain in that literal position always. They would eventually trip over themselves or develop a disability. That isn’t quite what we’re asked to do as we bless God, for it is a heart function and not a literal position that God seeks from us.

Numbers 6, Genesis 14, and several other texts present the concept of blessing others using the same root Baraka, but usually the concept is followed by words spoken ‘over’ someone’s life, usually on God’s behalf. If that is the case, does it then mean that when we bless someone, the idea is that we worship them? I think not.

If blessing God is at the heart of worship, and we’re choosing to bless God, then it demands that we recognize God’s greatness and praise God accordingly. The psalmist puts it this way: ‘… it is God Who made us, we didn’t do it by ourselves; we are God’s people and the sheep of God’s pasture, enter in God’s gates with thanksgiving and in Gods courts with praise’ (see Psalm 100:3). Although the root is the same, the role played is different, as God created us, and others did not. (Perhaps we can explore honoring, as in honoring our parents).

We are loved by God, and God’s love lifts us to many dimensions, I believe that blessing God involves a blend of worshiping (venerating) and actually speaking of God’s grace and mercy to us in the past. Looking at the literal sense of blessing as opposed to cursing, I’d also say blessing involves praising God for Who God is.

Thus, in Job 2:9-10, when we hear Job’s wife admonishing him in his sickness to just embrace death by cursing God, Job’s response is instructive. He argues that we can expect bad things to happen when we worship God, it doesn’t authorize us to vilify (or curse) God’s name.

Today, let us endeavor to bless God despite the circumstances facing us. Let’s venerate and worship God, not other humans. Selah

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May all we seek be found in Christ