“Blessed is that people whose God is the Lord” Ps 144:15

 

Man is designed in such a way that, from the very beginning of his make up, there is an inbuilt system that is in him that searches for his maker and founder. Everyone questions about his origin, and conscience primarily and nature secondarily give the answer. Thus man of every generation, from the very first of our kind to date, has been searching for the real Lord of his life. This quest, however, has failed in many instances, to achieve the appropriate result due to the weakness of man himself in pursuing the search rightly to its end, and because of impediments and snares laid down on this way by the enemy, devil. With the failure of the search for the true Lord, man has reclined on several things, shamefully, on creatures of almost every sort; specially built statues and imageries, and cursed and damned ghosts.

 

When God says "Blessed is that people whose God is the Lord", it is not because there is any man whose creator and maker is not He nor is it because there is anything that is not His creature. Everything, the visible as well as the invisible, is made by Him, as the evangelist says, "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made" Jn. 3:3. The Prophet also says, "The earth is the Lord's, ands the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein" Ps. 24:1

 

The Lord Himself speaks of the fact that He is the only Creator and true God, saying, " Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God". Is 44:6. Thus everything is from God, and of God and to God, as the apostle declares saying, "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" Rom. 11:36. David the prophet also confirms this while he was on a thanksgiving to the Lord for all what He had done to him, "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou are exalted as head above all" 1 Chr. 29:11.

 

Then if this is so, why is it said that blessed is the man whose God is the Lord? Who is a man whose God is the Lord? A man whose God is the Lord is the one who loves his God with all his heart and with all his soul, and as a result of his love to Him, walks in all his ways and reveres all His commandments. It is a man who knows that he is the handmade of God, and offers thanksgiving for this, saying, "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" Ps. 139:14. Such is a man who has the law of his God in his heart, who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at the word of God, and who loves to be with God. Ps 37:21; Is 66:2.

 

A man whose God is the Lord lives according to God and for God. He does not pursue his wishes nor will have wishes apart from His Lord's love and commandments, as the blessed apostle says, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" Gal. 2:20.

 

Such man whose God is the Lord is truly blessed because God is with him. He will be blessed according to the covenant of God that says "All these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shall thou be in the field, blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, … blessed shall thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shall thou be when thou goest out; the Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou septets thine hand unto" Deut. 28:2-8.

 

The blessing that rests on him may even flow over him and reach to others. The patriarch Abraham was blessed above all as he sought the true Lord wholeheartedly, and followed all His ways perfectly. Thus Abraham was exalted by God and blessed in all of his life. In fact, not only was Abraham blessed but also established as a fountain of blessing for others, as God said to him, "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" Gen. 12:3.

 

The blessedness of Joseph also reached to his master, "The Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the fields". Gen. 39:5

 

A man that is blessed, because his God is the Lord, fears nothing at anytime and anyplace. He will say together with David, "yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou are with me; and thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" Ps 23:4. He will dwell in the secret pace of the most high. Such man will not fear, though the earth shall be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Ps 46:1-3. he is protected by the True and Powerful Shepherd. Thus there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling since you God is your protector.

 

Therefore, we need to aspire to be blessed by having God as our Lord. This shall be established in our heart and mind as the only desire. This Merciful and loving God does not need anything from us in return for what He gives us. Neither did He create us to get something done through us. Away with the thought. His only motive for creating us in His deer image is His unspeakable tenderness, to make us partakers of His eternal glory and kingdom only by knowing Him appropriately and loving Him. He likes every one of us to enjoy this unspeakable blessing and never wants any one to be outside of His grace and kingdom. He has prepared for all of us everlasting and unspeakable happiness and kingdom to be inherited in the life to come after death. As He is truly loving, no sin can prevent us from turning towards Him. In facts, what will disappoint Him is not sin of the past, but disobedience and unwillingness to turn to Him. He waits for our return and salvation.

By Deacon Yaregal Abegaz