Bless God with Abundance
Yael Eckstein | January 10, 2023
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. —Deuteronomy 8:10
One of the founding principles of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is God’s eternal promise He made to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you.” This is one of 12 devotions exploring the concept of blessing, barak, which is so important to both Christians and Jews.
What do you give to the person who has everything? Have you ever heard that before? Have you been in the situation where you want to give a gift to someone who really doesn’t need anything you could possibly get them? When I’m the one who has to give a gift like that, I just pick something out that makes for a nice gesture of appreciation. What more can I do?
But what about God? Imagine if you had to give a gift to Him. God not only has everything, but He is also the source of everything!
I was thinking about this recently when I came across a verse in Deuteronomy that calls on us to “bless” God: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.” The Hebrew for “praise” in this verse actually means “bless.”
So how do we bless God? What blessing can we possibly give Him?
Bless God with Abundance
We bless other people all the time. Blessing someone usually means either giving them a physical gift or praying for them to be blessed with some gift from God — health, finances, or some other outcome that will benefit them.
When we speak of someone being blessed with a particular talent, we refer to a blessing that God bestowed on that person. But none of this makes any sense when it comes to blessing God.
The first time the word “blessing” appears in the Bible is in the Creation story. We read, “God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth’” (Genesis 1:22).
The first time anything was blessed by God, it was the fish and the birds. And the context is clear. When God blessed the fish and birds, He was telling them to multiply greatly, “Let there be more of you.” While there are many more examples to prove the point, “blessing” in the Bible means “abundance.”
So what does it mean when we “bless” God? Simply put, we bless God with abundance — of Him! We tell God that we want more of Him. We want to see Him more. We want more of Him to be revealed to the world. We want more godliness in our lives. And there’s no greater gift we can give Him.
Your Turn:
Make a point of thanking God and talking about Him in your daily interactions. See how God’s presence is increased in the world around you.