Blessings, what are they?

I have had a very hard week but feel blessed by God. That started me thinking about blessings and where scripture tells us we are blessed. What does blessing look like to God? First, I wanted to start with a definition of blessing. The dictionary says: a gift of divine favor, good wishes or approval, anything that gives happiness or prevents misfortune. I can see my week’s events were a blessing as God granted me divine favor and prevented severe misfortune.

Psalm 1 is a great place to start looking at blessings or being blessed. This psalm describes the way of the believer and the blessings that way brings.

Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
²but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

³He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

The blessed man doesn’t seriously listen to the advice of unbelievers, do the things they do or make fun of godly things. The blessed man loves God’s Word and thinks about it all the time. He is deeply rooted by God and shows growth in both his faith and his life. He prospers in all he does. The psalmist contrasts this picture of one who loves God with the unbeliever.

The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Unbelievers are tossed to and fro with the ideas of the world. They are not grounded in God’s Word and faith in Him so they will perish.

As you meditate today, think about your life and ask yourself, Am I like the blessed man? Do I hunger after God’s Word and think about it a lot? Am I deeply rooted in God’s Word, and am I standing firm in faith where ever God has me? If your answers are yes, you are on you way towards blessings. Being in God’s Word and walking in God’s way gives happiness and guides us away from misfortune. Even if we go through hard times Jesus is with us. Therefore, by definition we are blessed!

Count your blessings today as you strive to walk with Him in His way,