Bless the Lord?

Do you ever read the psalms?  I do.  Well, you probably guessed that.  It’s part of my job, really.  But as I was reading the psalms, I suddenly thought of something.  There’s a phrase that appears repeatedly in the psalms.  That phrase is this:  “bless the Lord”.

Sometimes it appears in just that form.  Sometimes it’s a variant, such as “I will bless the Lord” or “blessed be the name of the Lord” or something similar.  But the thought is the same:  you and I are to bless the Lord.

Did you ever think about what that means?  More importantly, did you ever wonder why we’re supposed to bless the Lord?  I mean, when we think of a blessing, we usually think of some good thing we’ve been given.  So, it’s easy to understand why we should thank God for the blessings God has given us.  But how are we supposed to bless the Lord?

Think about it.  What good thing could we ever give God?  God is all-powerful.  There is nothing we can do for God that God could not do without our help.  In fact, it would probably be easier for God to do things without our help.  Most of the time, you and I probably just get in the way.  God allows us to help, but that’s for our benefit, not for God’s benefit.  God does not need you or me to accomplish God’s purposes.

I can think of only one thing we can do for God that God cannot do without us.  We can give God love.

Love is the one thing we can give God that God cannot give himself.  I mean, God may well love Himself.  I don’t know.  That seems like a strange thing even to write, that God loves Himself.  But even if God does love Himself, loving yourself is not the same thing as getting love from others.  So it seems to me that the one way we can bless the Lord is to give the Lord our love.

So, in these days leading up to Christmas, let’s focus on that.  Let’s focus on giving God our love.  Not just saying the words--anyone can do that.  But really feeling love for God in our hearts.  And of course, if we really feel love in our hearts, that love will be shown in our actions.  So let’s feel love for God in our hearts, and let’s show that love in our actions.  Maybe, if we focus on it in these days leading up to Christmas, we’ll start to get into the habit of it and be able to continue it into the new year.

So let’s love the Lord our God.  Let’s bless the Lord.