Genesis - The Beginning of Blessings

 Blessings in Genesis

God created and it was good. It was very good. God was blessing from the beginning.

If you happened to be a bird or a fish or the seventh day of the week, you were blessed.  You had a God-given purpose. You were part of a relationship with God.

God didn’t say, let there be Wildebeest just for filler.

All of God’s creation had a relationship with its Creator.  One of his creations had a very special relationship. Humans were made in his image. We are blessed to be made in the image of our creator, but the blessing of all creation is that we are in a relationship with our creator.

Creation was not a fire-and-forget sort of deal. It was not a throw a bunch of cosmic material into a pot and see what happens.  God created with relationship in mind.  We are blessed in relationship.

God blessed people in the Bible with children and with generations. It wasn’t a one-and-done deal.  People were blessed to create offspring and descendants.  People could see their blessings not only in their flocks and silver but in their children and grandchildren.

We see blessings manifest in Abraham.  God promised to bless those who blessed Abraham.  He also told Abraham that he was blessed to be a blessing.

God blessed Abraham everywhere he went even when Abraham was doing boneheaded things.  God blessed him when he passed his wife off as his sister and got busted for it.  He was still sent away with great possessions.

Abraham and a very small army defeated 5 large undefeated armies.

God blessed Abraham—who was to be the Father of Many Nations—with a son in his old age.

God blessed that son, Isaac, even when he did his own boneheaded stunts.

God blessed Jacob who was known as the Deceiver for much of his life.  Those blessings involved many children from whom would come the tribes of Israel.

God blessed Joseph in his hardship and trials and made him great, so great he saved all of Egypt and his own family.

Most of the time, God’s blessings were not in response to human good.  The blessings came because those blessed were in relationship with God.

There were plenty of people who were blessed who did not know the one true God. The sun rises on the evil and the good.  The rain falls on the just and unjust, but we see the story of those who did know God and how God blessed them in spite of their human brokenness.

What can we take from this?

When God chooses to bless you, he will bless you.  It is seldom about scoring high on the playing-by-the-rules test.

Obedience, faith, love, and how we show mercy to others help that relationship and promote our growth.  These things are how we demonstrate our love for God but they don’t earn us blessings.

There is a natural relationship between our faithfulness and blessings, but blessings come from God and not our own efforts. Every good gift comes from above.

In his sovereignty alone, God bestows blessings upon us.

James tells us that our trials and hardships are blessings as well.  We should rejoice in them. We should use them to grow our faith.

Paul tells us that God takes everything that happens and uses it for good for those of us in a loving relationship with God.

God has called us. God chose us. God blesses us. 

Blessings were there in the beginning. Blessings continue. We should have eyes to see all of our blessings and we should live as Abraham was charged to live.

Blessed to be a blessing.

Let’s wrap up our journey through Genesis with some words about blessings from our Lord.  You can find these in Matthew 5.

Jesus said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

    for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

    for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

    for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

    for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Amen.