BLESS God, the INITIATOR of ALL our BLESSINGS!

 

May 1 Bible Reading: 1 Chronicles Chapters 28-29

BLESS God, the INITIATOR of ALL our BLESSINGS!

Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: "Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head over all." (1 Chron. 29:10-11)

In the above passage we see that King David blesses God for all that has already been accomplished in his lifetime (29:10–13). Although he had worked hard to prepare for building the temple of God, David acknowledged that all of his accomplishments came from the sovereign hand of God. David saw himself as powerless and hopeless apart from God’s blessings (2 Chr. 1:9; 20:6, 12). His prayer of praise to God (vv. 10-19) encouraged all of the people listening to him to also bless the Lord (v. 20). This is one of the grandest prayers in the Old Testament, and demonstrates why David was described as “a man after God’s own heart”.

Only God could have brought such a turn of events, as David well knew. He therefore raised his voice in praise, blessing the Lord for who He was and what He had done (vv. 10–13). Even the gifts he and the people had made were just tokens of God’s grace. They could give God only what God had first given them (vv. 14–16). Thus, David modeled before the people how to truly bless and worship the living God!

In his magnificent prayer of worship and thanksgiving, David eulogized the Lord as worthy of all honor, exalted as head over all, and as the source of all riches and honor. He acknowledged that he and his people were unworthy to give to God, and that what they gave had come from God anyway. So, David confessed that the riches and honor he enjoyed had come from God’s generosity. The offerings he and his people had just made were possible only because God first had given to them!

Let us understand that God blesses us so that we can bless God back in return and give glory to Him alone. It is so much easy to take for granted all the blessings that we have in our lives. We should always remember that God is the true owner of everything that we possess. All of heaven and earth is owned by God (v. 11). Even our bodies belong to God (1 Cor. 6:19-20). God alone has given us all things to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17). Let us wisely and gratefully use all the blessings that God has granted to us bountifully as good stewards of His manifold blessings and generosity, and bless Him whenever we get a chance to do so!

"Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. The Lord who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion!" (Psalms 134:1-3)