I was driving by a house in my neighborhood and I saw a sign. It said, “God Bless America.” I don’t have a problem with the sign or its message. Yet, it seems that we are always asking for God to bless us but we don’t spend a lot of time remembering that God has already blessed us many times over. I began to think, we should change the sign and say, “America Bless God.” Why? Well Amaziah in 2 Chronicles 25:14-16 was blessed by God to defeat the Edomites. As soon as the battle was over, Amaziah brought in the gods of a foreign country, set them up, and began to worship them. This angered our God and He sent Amaziah a messenger but Amaziah refused to listen to the prophet’s counsel from God. Maybe this is a stretch but isn’t this what we do in America? God has blessed us as a nation over and over and then we refuse to listen to His counsel from His Word. Paul says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort…” (2 Corinthians 1:3). “Blessed” used by Paul comes from the word εὐλογητός (eulogētos) which if you look closely at this Greek word, you will see it is the etymology for the word “eulogy.” It means to speak well of someone, to bless, or to praise. This word is used in other biblical passages, for example, Genesis 14:20; Luke 1:68; Romans 1:25; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Ephesians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3. Each of these examples shows that God is to be blessed. So, I say it is time we start blessing or praising our God and put some signs up that say, “America Bless God!” Maybe if Amaziah would have learned this, he might have continued to be blessed by God instead of ending up being cursed by God.
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Really good post. I feel a sermon coming on.
Scott, thanks for the positive comments. I have been thinking about this for a while and the text reminded me of it. AMERICA BLESS GOD! – Randy
Good thoughts, Randy; it helps explain what can be a difficult concept. Yes, those passages do say God is to be blessed, but think about what we think of when we think of the reverse — of God blessing us. We think of God giving us more stuff. We think of God being merciful to us or showing us great favor. These concepts are dissonant with the concept of us blessing God. How can we possibly give God more stuff? How is it possible for us to be merciful to God or to show him great favor, thus enriching His life? You’ve explained that by explaining the meaning of eulogētos. So to bless God is to praise Him! Oh, I can do that. In fact, that’s what He created me to do!
I never expected my kids to praise me but now that they are older and more mature it is great to hear them say, “I am proud of you Dad!” “I love you Dad!” “I am trying to do right Dad because you are right!” I never expected praise but it sure is good to get it. How much more in the midst of our sin and constant failures before God to praise Him, to Bless Him, or to speak well of Him in the midst of our lives. I think God must be happy when we stop and think of Him in the midst of our busy lives.
I like your use of “bless”, speak well of. We need to make it our aim that our Jesus gets a good read by others from our lives. 2 Cor. 3:2-3