"We Praise Thee; We Bless Thee!"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. (Psalm 103:1-2)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:3)

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. (Luke 1:68)

Thus begin each of our lessons this evening, with ascriptions of blessing and praise to the Lord God. But what does it mean to bless, and how and why do we bless God?

First, consider who is blessed. The Holy Scriptures declare that God alone is truly blessed, just as He alone is truly good, truly holy, and truly righteous. He alone is blessed, and He remains so without respect to you or to anything in all creation. Just as God's Name is certainly holy in itself, so also is He blessed in Himself. He does not rely on your favor or your blessing to be so, for this is who God is.

The Lord God alone, being the eternally Blessed One, is the one and only source of all blessing. For He is the Lord of Hosts, the creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. He is the king of the universe. Without Him was nothing made, and in Him all things live and move and have their being. To Him do you cry out, and He alone answers.

The Lord is not simply able to bless, but He does indeed give great blessings. Daily and richly He gives good things to all people, even to all evil people. He blesses the people of this world with the fruits of the earth, the ability to think and learn and reason, to live peaceably together. He rules and governs over all things, and He preserves and sustains all that He has made. For all these things it is the duty of His children to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.

Indeed, this is the understanding in view when we consider the idea of blessing God. How can the creature bless the creator? What is it that we can wish upon the King of the Universe that He does not already have?

The act of blessing God is not a matter of imparting some benefit to Him, but rather a matter of repeating the history of the wondrous deeds of the Lord and giving thanks to Him for having performed such deeds for you. Old Testament Jewish tradition says that “only he who takes with thanksgiving truly receives from God; he who does not robs God.” (Berachot 35b). Right reception of God's gifts depends on first acknowledging Him as the source of all blessings, and blessing Him with thanksgiving for all that He gives to you.

Blessing serves as an act of praise and a confession of the One who gives all good gifts. God is the source of all creation, and He is the object of all thanksgiving, blessing, and confession. He speaks, and creation happens. He speaks, and gifts are given. He speaks, and you simply repeat His words back to Him, believing that He has done as He said.

But there is the problem. You do not believe Him or His Word. You do not trust in the King of the Universe to speak good things to you, nor do you bless Him for all the gifts He has given. You do not receive your daily bread with thanksgiving, but you rob and steal from Him by taking what you have not asked for and offering not even a word of praise. His benefits are yours, but He gets nothing from you, not even the honor due a dutiful father.

But, in spite of all this, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.” He has not left the people of this earth without any hope, without any understanding or thought of salvation. He has come into this world and redeemed His people. He has added to the list of His benefits to you this – that He has entered your flesh and blood and has redeemed you from slavery to sin, death, and the power of the devil. Blessed be the Lord, because He has indeed raised up for us a horn of salvation. He has raised up His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, high and lofty upon the cross, to die the death of all once for the sin of the world. Then He has raised up for us salvation by raising the Son of Man from the dead, bursting the bonds of the grave and setting free the captives from their prison. Blessed be the Lord God, because He has poured out such grace upon you while you were yet His enemies, that He might make you to be His own and live under Him in blessedness.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel because He has kept His promises which He made from of old. He has brought salvation through the seed of Adam, through the seed of Abraham, through the house and line of David. He has shown the mercy promised to our fathers, and has remembered His holy covenant.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed you with the holy Incarnation of His Son, our savior. Blessed be our God and Father, who has chosen you from the foundation of the world for adoption as sons. Blessed be our God and Father, who has poured out His love upon you, that you have redemption through the blood of Christ Jesus, forgiveness of sins, and the full lavish measure of His grace and favor.

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people...

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.