A Lifestyle of Blessing
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
Psalm 34:1–3
God is the God of blessing. He blessed Adam and Eve to flourish on the earth (Gen. 1:26). He blessed childless Abraham with the lineage of becoming a nation and an agent of blessing to the whole world (Gen. 12:2). He blesses the earth with food and drink to nourish our bodies and gladden our souls (Psalm 104:10–15). He even blesses us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3).
It's natural to think of God as the God of blessing. But have you ever stopped to consider that Scripture calls you to bless God?
We do not often think of it in these terms, but we bless things all the time. We praise our favorite sports team. We rant and rave about our favorite T.V. show or restaurant. We commemorate the actions of our heroes and our children all the time. In the same way, we have the opportunity to bless God today. Psalm 34 explains the different ways we can do this:
We bless God by continually praising him with our mouth
We bless God by boasting in him
We bless God by viewing ourselves rightly in his presence through humbling ourselves
We bless God by magnifying and exalting his name as we gather together as the body of believers
We do not bless God as a person who strains to give someone a compliment. We bless him from the over-abundance of blessing that he pours out in our lives. Psalm 103 reminds us of the many reasons to bless our good God:
He forgives our iniquities
heals our diseases
redeems our lives from the pit
crowns us with steadfast love and mercy
and satisfies us with good things
The psalmist reminds us that our praise for God are not to be sporadic comments here and there. Rather, he calls us to a lifestyle of blessing, a lifestyle of thankfulness, a lifestyle of praise continually on our lips and branded on our hearts.
This praise is not only to be continuous but contagious. We've all been around people who change the temperament of a room. We all know people whose words, attitudes and actions effect others for good or for ill.
But as children of God, may the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable to God (Psalm 19:14) and a refreshment to others (Philemon 1:7).
