Defining What it Means to Be Blessed

To bless generally means to speak good or to do good things for another. There are many types of blessing in Scripture. The first is the blessing God communicates to people. When God blessed Abraham by saying, “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” (Genesis 12:2), he was pronouncing a benediction promising His favor.

The second type of blessing is spoken by people to God. In Psalm 103:1-2, King David blesses God by saying, “Bless the Lord, 0 my soul; and all that is within me, bless His Holy name.

Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget none of His benefits” (NASB). Speaking well of or expressing praise to God is blessing Him. When we bless Him, we acknowledge Him as the source for all we have. Yet another type is a blessing spoken by God or people over things. One example of this is Deuteronomy 28:4-5: “The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.” Even in our secular age it’s common in many coastal communities in to have annual blessing of the fleet ceremony at the beginning of each fishing season.

The fourth type of blessing is one spoken by one person to another, often invoking the name of God. When we bless someone superior to us, as when Jacob blessed Pharaoh in Genesis 47:7, the phrase suggests honoring or showing respect.

H. Norman Wright, Chosen For Blessing, Harvest House Publishing, 1992.