“The appropriate, faithful response to God’s blessing is doxology – worship. Before God’s blessing is material or spiritual, it’s relational. Before anything else, God’s blessing invites us into relationship with him, which is also the genesis of abundant life with others.”- Tina Boesch
Tina Boesch concludes Chapter 1 of Given as she notes that in Genesis God creates and He blesses. Yet, these two distinct actions also marvelously complement each other. Because God’s creative word sources life in the present, and His blessing of fruitfulness and multiplication provides the wellspring of our future existence. Thus, God’s blessing consists of more than a wish and more than a hope. Rather, it positively states what will be.
As a result, Tina notes, God’s blessing breathes newness into our spirits. It enables us to envision a path toward God where we move forward in faith. Furthermore, when God directs a blessing to us, He invites us into relationship – communion. The author adds:
“Genesis shows us that when God reaches out to us with blessing, he speaks first. If we’re listening, we’re free to respond with blessing and obedience or with indifference and disobedience. We hear the reverberations of the right response sung in Psalm 103: ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me; bless his holy name.’ ”
However, due to the curse of sin, fissures exist rather than wholeness. Instead of union, dominance and submission control our interactions. The curse permeates all areas of life. But there’s an antidote – blessing. To live sustained by God’s presence. And to receive energy as we respond to the One who gives.
Finally, Tina cites these words from Thomas Merton’s The New Man:
“To find the full meaning of our existence we must first find not the meaning that we expect but the meaning that is revealed to us by God. . . . The true meaning . . . has to be ‘given’ . . . for life itself is, in the end, only significant in so far as it is given.”
Today’s question: How do you faithfully respond to God’s blessing with doxology and worship? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “That jolt into the unknown – disorienting”
