Abba, Father, I …

What is blessed? What does it mean to be blessed? How is the blessing exercised or expressed?

When most Christians think of blessings, the blessing of the Lord, they automatically think of Abraham. And when they think of prosperity, the more popular form of blessing, they almost always lean heavily on Abraham.

And that is befitting. Because,  as we shall see shortly, blessings can only come from our Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

We will therefore begin our study of blessedness from that very beginning.

Blessed, the simple man’s definition

This is my simple man’s definition of blessed

To have no lack whatsoever, in every aspect of being.

In that definition, i am going for the ultimate meaning the concept. Granted, that definition is the ideal. But any efforts geared towards that ideal may be sufficient this side of the cosmos.

What that means, in street terms, is that, if it is wealth that we are considering,  that one has no discernible shortage of it, or one has so much of it such that he/she is not impeded in any pursuit he/she might want to undertake.

But it really cannot  just stop there. It also means that, in terms of power, one has as much power as to be able to do as they  wish, within reasonable limits, without another constraining them unnecessarily.

And, having all these, one is capable of great joy and pleasure when exercising the use of the said wealth and power.

And, in joyously exercising his great wealth and power, commits not sin at any time.

It should be obvious, then, that the one who is ultimately “blessed”, is the Lord God Himself. None and nothing impedes Him. And if that is so, it also means, that since He can impede and impose on all others, only He can bestow a blessing  or two on lesser beings.

I repeat;

True blessing can only come from the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The promise of blessing

The promise of blessing that we are considering  is reported in Genesis 12. There is no indication how Abram ( later Abraham) came to know about the Lord God, but they certainly must have had some contact and exchanges:

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

And out of “no where”, and for no apparent reason, the Lord offers to bless him:

² “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

Do remember this for future reference;

• One, Abram did not ask to be blessed.
• Two, Abraham is being blessed so that he would in turn be a blessing to many others.

God gives out his blessings for a greater good:

³ I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

What is the Lord saying?  This:

“Abe, i know you did not seek this thing that i want to do with you, so i will reward you greatly by blessing you. As a result, there are those who will be against you because of my choosing you. But do not worry about it, for i will be looking out for you. I will be your defense against all them.”

The result of the blessing

So what results from this blessing?

First, in Abraham’s lifetime, he gets to be greatly prosperous.

Second, and even better still, he had an ally in the Lord God himself:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward. ” (Gen. 15:1 NIV)

Third, he gets to be the Father of all those who would in the future receive the blessing  of God.

and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” ( Gen. 12: 3 NIV)

Now, let me say something about the so called prosperity gospel, those who swear by “God wants you to prosper”.

They will support their argument by talking about Abraham’s great prosperity.  But you do not get to hear the whole story.

What they fail to tell you is that Abraham’s prosperity was a stop gap measure towards the blessing that was to come, i.e.  men inheriting eternal life by possessing Jesus Christ.  Abraham’s material prosperity was a school-teacher, meant to lead us towards that perfect, spiritual prosperity, the possession of  God by men.

In those  old days, how would you convince  men that they could “possess” God within themselves? There was no way to make this great mystery easily known to Abraham and those of his generation. Even Angels peered into what the Lord was onto and came up empty? But by his prosperity he could certainly understand that he is blessed.

The end of the promise

So Abraham’s prosperity was a way to show those around him what it means to be blessed by the Lord. The real thing, as promised, was coming in the future. but now, we are living in that future.

You and me have the hindsight advantage. We understand the end of Abraham’s blessing. We have inherited all things by Jesus Christ. Abraham’s prosperity, we now understand, was a “wait” or a “foretaste” of things to come. Now that the perfect is come, what is the sense of spending  your waking days/nights seeking after the imperfect, material prosperity? When that which is perfect is come, why cry for the imperfect?

Here is an illustration that oi hope makes sense to you.  Consider the apostles and early church. These people actually saw, touched and walked with Jesus, the end of Abraham’s blessing. Where these people blessed? Of course. Did these people seek material prosperity?

You read their acts and you get the impression that they were too busy changing lives to spend time asking the Lord to “prosper” them or seeking material things for their pleasure. They in fact seemed to shun it. In fact, counting for inflation and all things being equal, you and me are more materially prosperous than they were.

And these were the apostles of Christ. Think about that.

Look out for Part 2 tomorrow.