# 373 A journey through the Psalms. Psalm 134. Blessed to be a blessing.

Most of us are familiar with the basic definition of “blessing” as “a prayer asking for divine favour and protection.” But what about the use of the word as it is initially used here in Psalm 134 as follows:

Come, bless God,
    all you servants of God!
You priests of God, posted to the night watch
    in God’s shrine,
Lift your praising hands to the Holy Place,
    and bless God.  (Message vv. 1-2)

How is it possible that we, his people, can bless God? And yet, this phrase is used often in the Bible and a number of these are found in the Psalms as above and as follows:

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. (Psalm 34:1 NKJV)

Oh, bless our God, you peoples! And make the voice of His praise to be heard. (Psalm 66:8 NKJV)  

Bless God in the congregations, The Lord, from the fountain of Israel. (Psalm 68:26 NKJV)

Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty. (Psalm 104:1 NKJV)

 I will extol You, my God, O King; And I will bless Your name forever and ever. (Psalm 145:1 NKJV)

 One easy explanation is that it means to praise God, and many translations simply use the word praise instead of bless. For example, the NIV translates the verses in Psalm 134 as,

 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
    who minister by night in the house of the Lord.
Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
    and praise the Lord. (vv. 1-2)

But is there more to understand this than just simple praise? John Piper writes:

“My thesis is that in the Scripture when God “blesses” men they are thereby helped and strengthened and made better off than they were before, but when men “bless” God he is not helped or strengthened or made better off. Rather… man’s blessing God is an “expression of praising thankfulness” … When the OT speaks of blessing God it does not “designate a process that aims at the increase of God’s strength” … It is an “exclamation of gratitude and admiration” [He continues] … to bless God means to recognize his great richness, strength, and gracious bounty and to express our gratitude and delight in seeing and experiencing it.”

(https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-does-it-mean-to-bless-god)

In the NT we see an interesting phrase used by Paul in his letters to the churches. That phrase is pleasing to the Lord (Romans 12:1-2, 14:18; Phil. 4:18; 1 Timothy 5:4). Although the context is different to that of the Psalms, I think that just maybe we could say that when the people of God bless the Lord that this too is pleasing to God.

The psalmist here then moves onto the other use of the word bless. He says:

In turn, may God of Zion bless you—
    God who made heaven and earth!  (Message)

Kidner comments:

“The word bless is perhaps the key-note of the psalm, sounded as it is in each verse. So far, it has been directed Godward; now it returns from God to man. But the exchange is quite unequal: to bless God is to acknowledge gratefully what he is; but to bless man, God must make of him what he is not, and give him what he has not.” (# 29)

Longman adds:

“Blessing brings intimate relationship with God and others, as well as material benefits.” (# 30)

God has given us the incredible privilege of blessing both Him and others, of being a blessing to Him and others, and of being blessed by Him and others. As Paul says, we can serve “Christ in this way [knowing that it is] pleasing to God and approved by men.” (Romans 14:18)

And so, this day, bless God and what about praying this blessing over your friends and family:

The Lord bless you
    and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face shine on you
    and be gracious to you;
²⁶ the Lord turn his face toward you
    and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)