Blessed Be Your Name

April 21, 2015

Blessed Be Your Name

Take delight in the Lord,

    and he will give you your heart’s desires.

Psalm 37:4

Psalm 37 was crafted as an acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalm is a collection of wise sayings that contrast the lives of the wicked, with the lives of those who are faithful to God. The psalmist’s wisdom and experience had taught him that the spoils of the wicked are “like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither” (Psalm 37:2); in contrast, the blessings of God are eternal.

The psalmist wrote in verses 5-6: “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.” This is a very profound, yet simple, way to pattern our life. First, we commit our life to God. Second, we exercise faith in God by trusting Him with our life. Third, God will act. The psalmist is not very specific about how God will act, but the description is rather breathtaking. The psalmist is trying to describe the wonder, beauty and awe associated with being in the presence of God. The reward for faithfulness to God is being in perfect peace as we rest in the presence of our Heavenly Father. Seven times the psalmist refers to the blessing of God as, “The godly will possess the land and will live there forever” (Psalm 37:29). This means our reward is eternal.

Our culture bombards us with messages that rewards and blessings have to be tangible and received in the here and now. But God’s blessings are His presence with us, now and forever. Because of God’s faithfulness we can sing:

Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be your name

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed Be Your name

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me

When the world's 'all as it should be'

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing you pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed Be Your Name

Matt Redman

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ is available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.