How Does God Bless Us?

After what manner does he [God] bless us?  We do not bless him as he blesses us. We come far short of that. For (as I have shown already from the sixteenth Psalm) all our services can do him no good. Again, we have to conclude that (as I have also shown from Ps.116) all that we can bring to God is no more than this acknowledgement that we are bound to him for all the good things we have. You see then that all our blessing is but to yield the sacrifice of praise to God. Let that serve for one point.

But now, when God blesses us, is it simply in words? No! No! But it is a filling of us and a bestowing of all things upon us that we want, as far as is needful. And why is this word ‘blessing’ attributed to him? Because he does not need to labour and take great pains to help his servants and to give them what he knows is expedient for them. If he simply says the word, that is to say, if he only declares his will, the thing is done.

Since then God, having created the world by his word alone, has power also to do us good simply by commanding it, therefore it is said that we become rich by his blessing alone, that is to say, by his showing himself loving and favourable to us.

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To keep us humble, Calvin reminds us that we can add nothing to God.  What we have, we received from His gracious hand. His blessing of us far exceeds our blessing of Him. Let us acknowledge today His great goodness to us, with thankfulness and joy. His blessing of us is much more than mere words – His blessings are most practical.  Name His many blessings to you one by one, and you’ll be surprised at what the Lord had done for you today.  And be thankful, without complaining.