Have you sung Matt Redman’s inspiring song, “10,000 Reasons”? It begins, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul. I’ll worship Your holy name.” Matt said he based the song on Psalm 103, which lists many and various reasons to bless the Lord. The New International Version and New Living Translation translate Psalm 103:1 as “praise the Lord,” but the Hebrew literally says, “O my soul, bless the Lord.” Do you wonder what that means?
To bless means to bestow good on someone, which is why you can’t read too far in the Old Testament without someone begging the Lord for His blessing. Abraham pleaded with God, “May Ishmael live under your special blessing!” (Genesis 17:18). Jacob battled Esau over the blessing and clung to the divine wrestler, insisting that “I will not let you go unless You bless me” (Genesis 32:26). These saints knew that God’s blessing was the secret to their success, for only God could open wombs, shut out enemies, and guarantee a bumper crop. God’s blessing could make even Job’s situation tolerable, and after his test “the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning” (Job 42:12).
We understand how God blesses us by giving us good things, but how can we bless God? What good could we possibly add that He doesn’t already have? Only one thing: reputation. Psalm 115 says that when the nations ridicule the Lord, saying, “Where is their God?” (Psalm 115:2), we respond by blessing (the Hebrew term in Psalm 115:18) the Lord for His countless blessings on us. And so we make His name great.
God blesses us by conferring good things; we bless Him by praising the good we see in Him. Want to add to the fame of the Lord? Sing “10,000 Reasons” again, this time with feeling.
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Acts 20:1-12
More:
Read Matthew 6:9-13 and consider what it means for the Father’s name to “be kept holy.”
Next:
What have you said or done today that has added to the fame of your heavenly Father? What have you said or done that has diminished His glory in the eyes of some?
winn collier on November 7, 2013 at 12:59 am
Thanks, Mike. This is a good reminder about the humbling notion that we can bless God.
cjbaize on November 7, 2013 at 7:42 am
I have thought that my obedience to the Lord is a way of blessing him. God has given me the freedom to choose. To follow his commands or follow His leading is to honor and bless the Lord.
tlabrier on November 7, 2013 at 8:28 am
When I think of Blessings, I tend to think of something big, like writing a check to pay off the building project, feeding all the hungry in my community, things like that. I forget that blessing could just be a kind word; like stopping by the Customer Service Counter in Walmart and letting them know how valuable they are to your shopping experience and thanking them for a doing a job not many would want. Their surprise and smile is a blessing to me.
tom felten on November 7, 2013 at 10:10 am
This has become a favorite worship song of mine, Mike. The second verse declares of God: “You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger. Your name is great, and Your heart is kind. For all Your goodness I will keep on singing.” He is so worthy of all our worship!
mike wittmer on November 7, 2013 at 12:57 pm
cjbaize: Good point! It is awfully humble of God to allow us to bless him in this way. What a privilege!
mike wittmer on November 7, 2013 at 12:59 pm
tlabrier: Your comment reminds me that we can bless God by blessing each other. I like your point that it also doesn’t have to be something huge. In fact, sometimes it’s easier to do something big and demonstrative and to ignore the little, daily things that mean so much.
GChoo on November 7, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Praise the Lord! When i looked at the picture of the lady lifting her hands and head upward, i just sang the chorus of the song you shared in this devotion before i started reading the rest of the devotion. I was in awe as how the Spirit was directing me to what is in the devotion.
Thanks for the reminder that how we live our lives and in our worship reflect our conviction of our love and trust in God.
daisymarygoldr on November 11, 2013 at 1:40 pm
Good thoughts on what it means to “Bless” God. Jesus wept over Jerusalem and vowed not to return until the people declare Him “Blessed”. Praising God is not merely lip service and lifting hands but involves a life that lives to continually offer Him sacrifices of praise (Hebrews 13:15). How can we offer a continual sacrifice of praise that pleases God and honors His name among others?
The writer of Hebrews provides us with some good insight: “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers. Remember those in prison, also those being mistreated. Give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage. Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God and follow the example of their faith. Do not be attracted by strange, new ideas but bear the disgrace Christ bore. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need.”
Giving praise to God requires a price. Jesus set us an example by not cursing those who killed Him and also tells us to bless those who curse us. We cannot simultaneously bless God and curse people who have been made in the image of God (James 2:9).