“To be blessed is to be loaded with the Master’s treasures. Camels can run up to forty miles an hour, but they have to stop and awkwardly kneel in order to be loaded.”- Alan Wright
In his Conclusion (“The Best Is Yet to Come”) of The Power to Bless, Alan Wright talks about the Hebrew word for bless. That word, barak, also stands for kneel. Some scholars believe ‘bless’ and ‘kneel’ are the same in Hebrew for this reason. In ancient Middle Eastern culture, one giving a gift bowed or knelt while presenting that gift.
However, Hebrew scholar Dr. Karl Coke explains it differently. In the ancient, arid Middle East, people viewed camels as treasures. For example, camels can survive without water for up to six months. Above all, camels carry a surprising weight. Up to nine hundred pounds. But before someone loaded up a camel, it had to kneel. Thus, the likely origin of the word bless.
Because God innovates, yesterday’s losses, regrets, and disappointments fail to define you. God’s always making things new. Therefore, Pastor Wright underscores, “You are defined not by the pain of the past but by the plans of God.”
Finally, the author stresses, God’s not blind to your losses. Nor deaf to your cries. Furthermore, He moves with unquenchable compassion on your behalf. And He restores or renovates every broken fragment of the past. God creates the foundation of a new higher place for you to dwell. Pastor Wright continues:
‘Like the ancient cities built upon the ruins of former days, your adversities have become clay in God’s hands — He’s molding a mountain out of your mistakes so you can live atop it with a whole new perspective.”
Above all, Pastor Wright asserts his belief that God brings us into this world under the sound of blessing. And He takes us home under the same sweet sound.
Today’s question: When others bless you, do you picture yourself loaded with the Master’s treasures? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: the annotated bibliography of The Power to Bless
