“The Blessing”

BIBLE READING: Psalm 31-34

                I have vivid memories of being a child at my grandparent’s house for a holiday or Sunday afternoon dinner and being asked to say the “blessing”.  As a kid, I knew that meant the prayer but, I don’t think I fully understood what it meant.  The more I thought about it, I was never asked to say the “blessing” at church, it was always “the prayer”.  The only time I ever remember being asked to say the “blessing” is before we eat, and even at that the “blessing” is coming from God and not me.  The word blessing has a few different meanings in the Bible, namely in the Old Testament.  We see men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob granting the “blessing” down to their sons.  We also see David use the word “bless” and “blessing” in the book of Psalms.  In our reading today is one such occasion, David says in Psalm 34 “I will bless the LORD at all time; His praise shall continually be on my lips.” What exactly is David saying here?  Does he mean “blessing” as I heard as a child in referring it to a prayer?  That does fit the I Thessalonians 5.17 “pray without ceasing”.  However, when we look at the true meaning of the word within the text, just substituting the word “prayer” doesn’t give us the full description.  The word means “to kneel”.  David is saying I will “kneel” before the LORD at all times.  Does that imply that David prays? Absolutely, but it also broadens the meaning to include words like humility and holiness.  It allows us to see that we must understand that the LORD is God above all, and we are but mere men.  It is He who is deserving of my praise, my prayer and my heart. That is why he continues to say “His praise shall continually be in my mouth.  David is giving us a great description of what it means to revere and humble ourselves before the God of all creation.  So in a sense, my grandparents had it right all along….I need to continue to say the blessings of the LORD.