Bless the Lord

Psalm 103:1-5
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

less the Lord, O my soul.

What does it mean to “bless” the Lord?

I think most of us would probably understand that it means to praise Him.

But there is more to it than that. The Hebrew word for bless has in it the sense of breaking or breaking down, to kneel or go down on your knees.

So when we come to bless the Lord, we come with that sense of being on our knees before Him. To be on one’s knees before someone is a position of reverence, of surrender, of submission, of service. It is a position that acknowledges the greatness and power of the One you are kneeling before.

(What just came to mind as I wrote that was the picture of Jesus on His knees before the disciples washing their feet. He “blessed” them. But do we realize that His attitude toward us is the same? That He came to serve us – to “bless” us too?)

When we come to God we are to bless him – to invoke Him, to praise Him, to celebrate Him, to adore Him.

One of the ways we do that is “to forget not all His benefits” toward us. To remind ourselves of all that He has done for us, as we thank and praise Him for that.

Somehow, even when things around us are dark and discouraging, there is something about turning our hearts toward God in praise for His goodness to us that changes us, that gives us peace in the midst of the storm, that holds us steady when everything else is falling apart.

Where is your life at today? Are you willing to come to God with a heart that is on its knees before Him to praise him, to adore Him, to celebrate Him, to bless Him?

Blessings,
Evelyn Grace Marinoski