Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The Blessing

A history lesson this week of Thanksgiving:

At this time of year, we speak often (or we should) of counting our blessings.

Hopefully, we recognize that we are blessed by the Lord.

But what does that mean, exactly, to be blessed?

The word “bless” in Hebrew means to kneel or to adore”.

It is closely connected to the word for “knee”.   So when we sing “Blessed be the Name of the Lord,” we are using the literal meaning of the word. 

We bless Your Name, oh God, we kneel before You because You are worthy. We adore You.

Why, then. does scripture say God blesses us?

After all, God doesn’t kneel before us in adoration.  (Shudder! How awful the thought of God shrinking to submission to me.)

Ann Spangler’s excellent book, Praying the Names of God offers some insight into this.  She explains that Yahweh, the Covenant Maker and Keeper, came down to initiate a relationship between Himself and man.

In other words, He knelt down as a loving Father and went face to face with His child, looked me in the eyes--

and blessed me with His presence.

This Thanksgiving, as we sit at a table laden with the feast, let’s remember that God and man at table are sat down—because Yahweh, our Covenant Maker and Keeper, came to bless us.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Ginger

 

 

5 comments:

  1. LOVE IT!! I am so all over the topic of Covenant right now....having just completed the study by the same name by Kay Arthur. In fact, I think the Lord is shaping a message out of the topic of covenant in my mind and heart.

    Happy Thanksgiving, Ginger.

    Leah

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  2. Thanks for visiting Ginger and leaving a comment! Your pictures are absolutely gorgeous! Have a wonderful day! Angie xo

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  3. I really really love this. I'm going to put your link on my blog! I hope that's ok!

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  4. I love the imagery of a Father kneeling to look His child in the eyes. Great post!

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  5. A very lovely reminder of the truth of Thanksgiving.

    Hope your day was blessed!

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