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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. – Ephesians 1:3-4
The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. – 2 Corinthians 11:31
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. – Psalm 103:1-5
Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore!
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised! – Psalm 113:1-3Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent. – Psalm 104;1-2I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. – 1 Timothy 6:13-16
It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior (Hebrews 7:7). It is natural that we should be blessed by God who is the ultimate superior one. He is also the ultimately blessed one. He is the embodiment of blessedness.
But the idea that I, in my humble estate, can bless God seems ludicrous. However, that is exactly what we are called to do, over and over. Bless the Lord, O my soul! What then does that really mean? Am I able to make God greater? Can I make God happier? Not really. He is the perfection of all those attributes whether I exist or not.
In Psalm 113 above, we see a parallel between blessing the Lord and praising the Lord. It also carries with it the idea of honoring God, of acknowledging that he is very great (Psalm 104:1-2).
So, for us to bless the Lord is very different than for the Lord to bless us. When he blesses us, we are receiving good from him. When we bless him, we are acknowledging him for who he is and what he has done. And, by the way, I do believe it makes him happy when we do this. Personally, I think it is almost unbelievable to realize that I can make God happy.
So, my friend, bless the Lord!
