Do You Bless God?
The practice of divine benediction has a long history. From the ancient stories of Genesis to the accounts of the early church, God’s people have consistently seen reasons to bless their Creator. Abraham’s servant exclaimed, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master,” (Genesis 24:27). Paul echoed, “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).
Today, it seems that we have lost this ancient form of worship. Perhaps we are uncomfortable with the overt spirituality that it expresses, or maybe our piety is not as deep as we imagine. Certainly it is not from any lack of example. The Bible teems with scores of illustrations. King David blessed his God, who had raised up a successor on his throne. Ezra blessed the Lord when he saw divine sovereignty at work in royal palaces. Daniel gave a benediction to the Deity who reveals secrets. Job saw reason to bless his Maker, even when his life fell apart.
We often speak of ‘blessing’ another person – perhaps by giving them a gift, or serving them in some way. Sentimentally, we could even place our hands on their shoulder and verbally ‘bless’ them, in the hope that they will somehow become ‘more blessed’ than they already are.
God cannot be blessed like this. There is nothing we can give to or do for God that will make Him more blessed than He already is. Nothing we speak will bring greater blessing to His name. Existing eternally, the sovereign Deity is fully blessed already. We can never hope to bring Him any blessing.
To bless God, then, is simply to recognize His blessed nature, to extol Him as worthy, and to add our acclamations and praises to Him. While this adds nothing to God, it is a statement about His worth and value. Though we can add nothing to His happiness, we assert that He is worthy of all happiness.
The ancient saints constantly pronounced benedictions on their Maker. They did this when they saw remarkable providences (Genesis 24:27, Exodus 18:10), when they observed His covenant faithfulness (1 Kings 8:15), when they pondered His majestic ways (2 Corinthians 1:3, Ephesians 1:3), and sometimes even in deep distress, as they recognized his ultimate worth (Job 1:21). Perhaps one of these events will happen in your life, giving you reason to bless your God.
And what is a Biblical response, if someone else blesses God? “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 106:48).
