Tap to Read ➤

Blessing from God

Claudia Miclaus
Even if we consider that the Old Testament God was terrible tyrant, who forced his people to beg on bended knee, our heavenly Father delights in blessing us.
Sin brought curse upon us, but God has placed mankind in the Garden of Eden, not in hell. So, it is obvious that it is not him, who wanted to hurt man. It was the free will matter again.
God's cursing is limited, but his blessings are without a limit. We see this based on what the Bible teaches when it reveals a jealous God, who punishes to the third and fourth generations and shows kindness to those who love him up to the thousandth generation.
"Know therefore that the LORD your God is God the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him." - Deuteronomy 7: 9, 10

He is faithful and true.
"But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." - Psalm 86:15
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created." - James 1:17,18 

Our God does not change.
The Hebrew verb for bless is 'barac' with its noun 'berekah', which means bowing down (someone kneeling down); in fact, it shows God bending over to make us prosperous. The New Testament word for the same is 'eulogeo', which means to speak well of a person.
God gave his first blessing to the birds and the fish. So, he created the great creatures of the sea, and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And he saw that it was good. 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 1:21, 22
This was true in human beings' case, as well:

"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." - Genesis 1:28

"He created them male and female and blessed them." - Genesis 5:2
The blessing definition is to speak audibly words in the power of God's name that bring spiritual, physical, and material tangible benefits to an individual's family or nation that continue from one generation to the other.
This differs from family to family and nation to nation. We mustn't focus on blessings God gives to neighbors, brothers, sisters. We should pay attention to whether we have rejected, or are embarrassed by his blessing for us. Its type is only determined by God’s will.
We have an example in the Scripture that teaches much about them. It is a man named Abram.

The Lord had said to Abram:
"Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through you" - Genesis 12:1-3
And then he changed his name into Abraham.

"No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations." - Genesis 17:5
The blessing he received was also received by his wife Sarai. God also said to Abraham:

"As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of people will come from her." - Genesis 17:15,16
Abraham asked him to extend it to Ishmael: 

"And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation." - Genesis 17:20
Thus, where God enters in a person's life, his blessings follow; the secret is to keep him our focus and not what we can get from him. Yes, with loving him, all other good things come, spiritual and material, as well. However, with God, we can live a fulfilled life, regardless of the bounty of material possessions.