Bless The Lord, O My Soul
Let’s look at what the ancient Jews meant when they said, “Bless the Lord, O My Soul.” Dig into the Hebrew meanings of these words to get the true meaning so we can praise and bless God.
This morning, I woke up to a frosty covering of snow on the ground. The world around me was white, peaceful, and calm. What a blessing! God had blessed me with one of my favorite things: snow!
This made me think about “blessing”.
I understand God as the one who blesses, not man. He is the one with the storehouse of goodness, and in His grace, rains, and in this case, snows, those good things down on us.
I wondered how WE can bless the Lord. Isn’t He the One who blesses us? Like He blessed me with snow?
The Meaning Of Bless
Then why does David say in the Psalms…
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is in me bless His holy name…
The word bless comes from the ancient Hebrew word berakah (bra-khah’). This word is related to the Hebrew word for knee and the verb to kneel. The ancients had a wonderful everyday visual image for this word berakah in the action of a camel as he knees down (Genesis 24:11).
Berakah carries the idea that when we bless the Lord, we mentally and spiritually bow down on our knees and worship Him, acknowledging that He is the source of all blessings.
Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:20 that we should…
always giving thanks to God the Father for everything
This sounds like an overwhelming task to bless God for everything.
How Ancient Jews Blessed God
For the ancient Jews, blessing the Lord was entwined into their daily life. They would say a brief prayer honoring God as the source of everything good. In Jesus’ time, these prayers began with Blessed is He or Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe.
They would bless God upon waking and bless God that each part of their bodies was working properly. They would bless God when they got dressed, saying, Blessed is He who clothes the naked.
When they would see the change of the seasons, or new grass, or the flowers blooming on trees in the spring, they would pray, Blessed is He who did not omit anything from the world and created within it good creations like the changing of the season, or this good new grass or good trees… for people to enjoy.
When they heard thunder, it would remind them to thank God. Blessed is He whose strength and power fill the world.
A Life Centered In God
Praying in this way brought God close to them. He became a very center of their daily lives. It also reminded the ancient Jews that God was good and the source of all blessings.
In good times and in bad, they prayed. When a happy, long-awaited event like a wedding or a birth happened, they would pray, Blessed is He who has allowed us to live and sustained us and enabled us to reach this day.
In times of grief, the Jews would bless God. They would spiritually bow their knee in worship. They would say, Blessed is He who is the true Judge. This was a reminder that God would not let any bad deed or evil go unpunished. He is the judge and has all things in His just hands.
A Life Changed By Blessing God
We might think, Wow, that’s a whole lot of prayer! And we would be right. In filling our lives with blessing the Lord, something miraculous happens! Our point of view changes for the better, and so does our attitude about almost everything!
When we bless the Lord and prayer gets entwined in our daily lives, we begin to see…
that the whole world is full of His glory. Isaiah 6:3
We will see God’s presence everywhere and His bountiful hand in all things!
It also reminds us that He is keeping a watchful eye on us like a loving parent watches over His precious child. It is a reminder that we are under His constant care!
Scripture To Ponder
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is in me bless His holy name. Ps 103:1
This is a beautiful, true verse to meditate on and memorize. Have you blessed God today?
How insightful! Really clears up a passage so many have trouble understanding. In Paul’s letter to Thessalonica he says: “Rejoice always. Always be joyful. Pray without ceasing, Never stop praying. In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”
So right! We are studying 1 Thess in our Thursday Bible Study right now. What a blessing,
Good morning Yvonne,
Lovely reminder to count our daily blessings….my goodness do they add up quickly!
It’s easy then to realize how lucky we truly are.
Thank you…
Lisa
I so agree, Lisa.
🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 Amen
Thank you Yvonne! Today’s post was wonderful 🥰
You are welcome.
Thank you so much for sharing your live of God with us.
I hope to share the love of the LORD and how He blesses us in all times.
Our Lord is so good! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul! Worship His holy name!
Again you have hit the mark in your Sunday message. You have been blessed fir sure and in kind bless us with your posts.
Thanks, Penny Jo! xo
Thanks again for creating a focus. God’s wonder is in every day if we take the time to see and feel it!
You are so right Crisco.
I’m truly blessed and needed this reminder to thank the lord daily. Thank you for sharing and brighting my day with your beautiful words of wisdom. Hugs D
What a wonderful inspirational Sunday morning post. Something we all need reminded of. God is so good. Thank you.
Amen!
You are so welcome, Deidre. BTW I love your name.
You always teach me something new that shifts my perspective. It shines a new light on how to pray without ceasing. Give thanks in everything, in the moment! Happy Sunday.
God is so good, JoAnn! Yes, pray without ceasing.
Thank you for this!! This will help me to pray without ceasing! I Bless God for putting this on your heart to share. He wanted a nation of priest so that we would share the good news.
God bless you, Cynthia. Yes, Pray without ceasing, 1 Thes 5
Yvonne
Thank you for sharing and reminding me how Great God is. He is worthy of all praises and as believers Nless his holy name. I’m thankful for your gracious celebration of Blessing God
You are welcome, Francine and amen!
Yes, thanks so much for sharing ! I really enjoy your blog and have been following for quite some time …keep on !!!!
You are so sweet Sally Jo! God bless you.
Thank you for your post today. What an excellent reminder of blessing from God! I’m keeping this posting to refer to throughout the week. What good examples of even the small blessing that I sometimes take for granted. I enjoy your posts especially the Sunday ones!
Sister in Christ
Janice
Thank you so much for sharing this. I heard someone pray… I praise you, God, I give you glory and I bless your Holy Name. I loved it so much that I always include that in my prayers. However, I did wonder how I could bless God as you mentioned. I trusted that we could trust Him so I continued that beautiful prayer of praise! Now I know. Thank you so much for these Sunday blessings that you share with us!!! May God bless you too!
Oops – I meant to say I trust that we could “bless” Him…