Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
Genesis 49:1, 22-26
“And Jacob called for his sons and said, Gather yourselves together [around me], that I may tell you what shall befall you in the latter or last days...
Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well (spring or fountain), whose branches run over the wall.
Skilled archers have bitterly attacked and sorely worried him; they have shot at him and persecuted him. But his bow remained strong and stead and rested in the Strength that does not fail him, for the arms of his hands were made strong and active by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
By the God of your father, Who will help you, and by the Almighty, Who will bless you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings lying in the deep beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb. The blessings of your father [on you] are greater than the blessings of my forefathers [Abraham and Isaac on me] and are lasting as the bounties of the eternal hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was the consecrated one and the one separated from his brethren and [the one who] is prince among them.”
One commentary notes about these verses, “Compassing the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph is a fruitful bough, sending out blessing far beyond his own borders. He was the object of bitter hostility but he did not yield, because he was strengthened by the Mighty God of Jacob—the One from whom the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel (that is, the Messiah) comes forth. God blesses Joseph with rain in abundance, wells and gushing springs, and numerous progeny.” [1]
Ephraim means to be fruitful (Gen 41:52) and Manasseh, making to forget ones hardship and toil (Gen 41:51). Joseph had named his sons accordingly because God had made him fruitful and forget the pain of his younger years in the land of his affliction.
Joseph went through terrible persecution. His brothers hated him and wanted to kill him and he was later thrown into prison by false accusation for trying to do what was right. However, when his own strength was not enough to get him through, he found strength in God. Through God, he remained steadfast and at rest.
God will sometimes take us to the end of our own strength so that we can find our strength in Him. When Job went through tribulation, he told his friends in Job 16:7, "But now [God] has taken away my strength."
One commentary notes that 'his bow remaining strong' has to do with his character. [2] His character was purified and he bore fruit as he went through struggle after struggle while leaning on the strong arms of God.
Besides Jacob's proclamation that lasting blessings would rest on the head of Joseph in the latter or last days, blessings were also given individually by Jacob to both his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. In Genesis 48:20 it says, “And he [Jacob] blessed them [Ephraim and Manasseh] that day, saying, By you shall Israel bless [one another], saying, May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.”
Blessing is the opposite of cursing. Blessings bring life. When God created man, He blessed them and said, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.”
Blessings, like cursings have tremendous impact. For instance, Balak [the king of Moab] begged Balaam to curse Israel for him (Numbers 22:6). He acknowledged the power of blessing and cursing by the power of God and told Balaam, “for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” When Balaam sought God about it, God spoke to him, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” (Numbers 22:12)
The Wikipedia notes that "To be blessed" means 'to be favored by God'. [3] Blessings therefore are directly associated with God and come from God. Therefore to express a blessing, is like bestowing a wish on someone that she will experience the favor of God.
Blessings were frequently something that a father gave to a son. It was part of his legacy, or inheritance, that he passed on to his children. A blessing affirmed things in children, called them out, and called them forth by the power of God.
Blessings were important to children. While Esau felt entitled to his blessing as the first born son, he was devastated when Jacob stole it from him. He was so beside himself that he wept and then plotted to kill his brother.
Blessings were also frequently given by priests to their congregation. In Numbers 6:22-26, “The LORD said to Moses, 'Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 'The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and b-e gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.'”
Blessings are not our will for others but invoking God's will for others. They are done with eyes of faith. Hebrews 11:20-21 says, “[With eyes of] faith Isaac, looking far into the future, invoked blessings upon Jacob and Esau. [Prompted] by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and bowed in prayer over the top of his staff.”
Blessings frequently had to do with posterity. Blessings powerfully impacted future generations. The Lord told Abram in Genesiss 22:17-18, “In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply our descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Hair) will possess the gates of His enemies, and in your Seed [Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be bless and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed my voice.”
While fathers blessed their sons with a physical inheritance out of their own resources, blessings were their spiritual inheritance out of Father God's resources. It was Reuben who received the birthright as the firstborn – Jacob's blessing to him. Genesis 49:3 says, “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the beginning (the first fruits) of my manly strength and vigor; [your birthright gave you] the preeminence in dignity and the preeminence in power.” However, Jacob told Joseph that the blessings upon him were “as lasting as the bounties of the eternal hills.”
These spiriutal blessings can include both physical and spiritual resources from God. Bonhoeffer notes that just as we pray for our daily bread, God's blessings can be both physical as well as spiritual. He writes, “As for daily bread includes the entire sphere of the necessities of physical life, so the petition [or I would add blessing] for life, health, and visible evidences of the friendliness of God belong necessarily to the prayer which points to the God who is the creator and sustainer of this life.” [4]
He notes that while the disciples left everything to follow Jesus, they lacked nothing they needed. Receiving from God what we need in health, life, peace, and earthly goods is “evidence of the gracious fellowship of God with us, and we thereby hold fast to the fact that God's gifts are better than life (Psalm 63:3 f.; 73:25 f.).” [5]
However, it is our relationship with God that is the greatest gift and blessing. It says in Genesis 15:1, “After these things [Abram was blessed by Melchizedek], the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am your Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great.”
Jacob longed to pass this inheritance of his own relationship with God on to his children and children's children. Genesis 48:15-16 says, “Then [Jacob] blessed Joseph and said, God [Himself], before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived and walked habitually, God {Himself], Who has [been my Shepherd and has led and] fed me from the time I came into being until this day, The redeeming Angel [that is, the Angel the Redeemer -not a created being but the Lord Himself] Who has redeemed me continually from every evil, bless the lads [Ephraim and Manasseh]! And let my name be perpetuated in them [may they be worthy of having their names coupled with mine], and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them become a multitude in the midst of the earth.” [a]
Psalm 84:5-8 says, “Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs; the early rain also fills [the pools] with blessings. They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]; each of them appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.
Joseph learned to make his valleys of sorrows places of springs. He brought God's Spirit into them and changed the environment around Him by blessing others. His places of affliction became places of fruitfulness.
God met Joseph in his deep places of need, pain and loss. Rather than feel sorry for himself for all his difficulties or worldly losses, he looked to God and found a place of strength and solace that filled him. And it was out of these deep wells of the Spirit, the Joseph blessed and served others with the love of God.
Psalm 84:9-12 goes on to say, “Behold our shield [the king as Your agent], O God, and look upon the face of your anointed! For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather be a doorkeeper and stand a the threshold in the house of My god than to dwell [at ease] in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving]!”
The problem is often (okay, at least with me) that we have our own expectations of how favor and blessing should look in order for us to see God as withholding no good thing from us. We do not see being rejected by our family, sold into slavery, or thrown in prison is being part of God's plan or goodness to us.
We become offended with God when we experience difficulty and start living our lives on our own terms. We decide we know what is best and make our own way, looking to meet our own expectations of what goodness should look like.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:6, “And blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) is he who takes no offense at Me and finds no cause for stumbling in or through Me and is not hindered from seeing the Truth.”
Instead of having misgivings about God because our circumstances are not what we expected, we are to trust in Him, lean on and believe on Him, confidently looking to Him to bring about His greater purposes.
Joseph was made fruitful in his place of suffering. Seeing God's purposes, he told his brothers in Genesis 45:7, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a posterity and to continue a remnant on earth, to save your lives by a great escape and save for you many survivors.”
Joseph could rejoice in his difficulties and tribulations because they were being used to save the lives of his family and others. Bonhoeffer notes that while human love is rooted in our own desires, genuine love for others is rooted in service.
Perhaps in the latter days we, like Joseph, are called to bless others by loving and serving them in a way that looks more like Joseph. Perhaps we are called to be a bless others in the midst of our own difficulty and pain, laying down our lives so that others might be saved.
Too often we love others only as long as we believe we are being blessed. And we only see ourselves as being blessed when circumstances are going our way and fulfilling our desires.
Bonhoeffer writes that while human love can look really good and sacrificial on the surface, we can tell the difference between it and genuine love in the face of an enemy. He notes that human loves turns into hatred, contempt and calumny – and that is where spiritual love begins. [6]
He writes that “spiritual love does not desire but rather serves, it loves an enemy as a brother. It originates neither in the brother nor in the enemy but in Christ and his Word.” [7]
Ephesians 2:14 says, “For He is [Himself] our peace (our bond of unity and harmony).”
Bonhoeffer notes that we belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ. [8] It is only through Christ that we can have unity, truly loving and serving our brother. And it is out of this place of relationship with Christ and genuine spiritual love that serves that we are able to truly bless others rather than looking for them to meet our needs.
Blessing requires one person to serve another out of a desire to see them be all that God has for them. And blessings flow from a genuine spiritual love for another. As Bonhoeffer notes, spiritual love comes from Jesus and serves him alone. [9]
Bonhoeffer writes, “Spiritual love recognizes the true image of the other person which he has received from Jesus Christ; the image that Jesus Christ himself embodied and would stamp upon all men.” He notes about this spiritual love that it meets another with “the clear Word of God.” [10]
In another place he writes that God has placed the Word of God in Jesus Christ (bringing redemption, righteousness, innocence, and blessedness) into the mouths of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. [11]
He writes, “God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him.” [12]
The Word of God in the form of a blessing, accompanying our faith, accomplishes God's purposes. Isaiah 55:10-11 says about the Word of God coming forth for another, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Too often we do not open ourselves up to blessing our brothers and serving them because we are disappointed about them not meeting our own expectations in our desire for spiritual community. We see the betrayals and faults of our brothers rather than calling forth the purposes and beauty of God in them.
Bonhoeffer notes that every human desire and dream that is injected into the Christian community must be banished if we are to have a genuine spiritual community with our brothers. He writes, “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” [13]
How we enter into spiritual community [or brotherly unity] according to Bonhoeffer is by letting go of our demands and expectations and becoming thankful recipients of what God gives us. He writes, “We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily.” [14]
Just as we need to let go of our expectations of what God's goodness in our lives looks like, we need to let go of our expectations of what brotherly fellowship and unity should look like. Bonhoeffer notes that it is only One that binds us together and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. He writes, “When the morning mists of dreams vanish, then dawns the bright day of Christian fellowship.” [15]
Lord, Would you fill our mouths with blessings for others that bring life wherever we go. May we be those who are filled with Your Presence and make a valley of sorrows a place of springs. Make us more like Joseph in the way that we bless others – out of a place of service and genuine love, even in our own pain and difficulties. And help us to let go of our expectations of you, your goodness, and of what spiritual community and unity look like. May we bring only Your will and purposes into every encounter with others.
[a] Besides blessing his sons, Jacob influenced his family by the way he lived his life and calling them to greater holiness. Even though they had been living in an age and place where having household idols and other gods one prayed for blessing, Jacob held only to the Living God. He called his family to put away idols and fear the one and only living God.
In Genesis 35:2-4 he told his household, “Put away the [images of] strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves and change [into fresh] garments; Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me wherever I went. So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.”
1. MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Ge 49:22
2. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Ge 49:24
3. Wikipedia. Blessing. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessing. Last Accessed 8/30/2011.
4-5. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, MN. 1970.
6-15. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. 1954.
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
“And Jacob called for his sons and said, Gather yourselves together [around me], that I may tell you what shall befall you in the latter or last days...
Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well (spring or fountain), whose branches run over the wall.
Skilled archers have bitterly attacked and sorely worried him; they have shot at him and persecuted him. But his bow remained strong and stead and rested in the Strength that does not fail him, for the arms of his hands were made strong and active by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
By the God of your father, Who will help you, and by the Almighty, Who will bless you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings lying in the deep beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb. The blessings of your father [on you] are greater than the blessings of my forefathers [Abraham and Isaac on me] and are lasting as the bounties of the eternal hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was the consecrated one and the one separated from his brethren and [the one who] is prince among them.”
One commentary notes about these verses, “Compassing the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph is a fruitful bough, sending out blessing far beyond his own borders. He was the object of bitter hostility but he did not yield, because he was strengthened by the Mighty God of Jacob—the One from whom the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel (that is, the Messiah) comes forth. God blesses Joseph with rain in abundance, wells and gushing springs, and numerous progeny.” [1]
Ephraim means to be fruitful (Gen 41:52) and Manasseh, making to forget ones hardship and toil (Gen 41:51). Joseph had named his sons accordingly because God had made him fruitful and forget the pain of his younger years in the land of his affliction.
Joseph went through terrible persecution. His brothers hated him and wanted to kill him and he was later thrown into prison by false accusation for trying to do what was right. However, when his own strength was not enough to get him through, he found strength in God. Through God, he remained steadfast and at rest.
God will sometimes take us to the end of our own strength so that we can find our strength in Him. When Job went through tribulation, he told his friends in Job 16:7, "But now [God] has taken away my strength."
One commentary notes that 'his bow remaining strong' has to do with his character. [2] His character was purified and he bore fruit as he went through struggle after struggle while leaning on the strong arms of God.
Besides Jacob's proclamation that lasting blessings would rest on the head of Joseph in the latter or last days, blessings were also given individually by Jacob to both his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. In Genesis 48:20 it says, “And he [Jacob] blessed them [Ephraim and Manasseh] that day, saying, By you shall Israel bless [one another], saying, May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.”
Blessing is the opposite of cursing. Blessings bring life. When God created man, He blessed them and said, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.”
Blessings, like cursings have tremendous impact. For instance, Balak [the king of Moab] begged Balaam to curse Israel for him (Numbers 22:6). He acknowledged the power of blessing and cursing by the power of God and told Balaam, “for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” When Balaam sought God about it, God spoke to him, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” (Numbers 22:12)
The Wikipedia notes that "To be blessed" means 'to be favored by God'. [3] Blessings therefore are directly associated with God and come from God. Therefore to express a blessing, is like bestowing a wish on someone that she will experience the favor of God.
Blessings were frequently something that a father gave to a son. It was part of his legacy, or inheritance, that he passed on to his children. A blessing affirmed things in children, called them out, and called them forth by the power of God.
Blessings were important to children. While Esau felt entitled to his blessing as the first born son, he was devastated when Jacob stole it from him. He was so beside himself that he wept and then plotted to kill his brother.
Blessings were also frequently given by priests to their congregation. In Numbers 6:22-26, “The LORD said to Moses, 'Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 'The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and b-e gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.'”
Blessings are not our will for others but invoking God's will for others. They are done with eyes of faith. Hebrews 11:20-21 says, “[With eyes of] faith Isaac, looking far into the future, invoked blessings upon Jacob and Esau. [Prompted] by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and bowed in prayer over the top of his staff.”
Blessings frequently had to do with posterity. Blessings powerfully impacted future generations. The Lord told Abram in Genesiss 22:17-18, “In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply our descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Hair) will possess the gates of His enemies, and in your Seed [Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be bless and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed my voice.”
While fathers blessed their sons with a physical inheritance out of their own resources, blessings were their spiritual inheritance out of Father God's resources. It was Reuben who received the birthright as the firstborn – Jacob's blessing to him. Genesis 49:3 says, “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the beginning (the first fruits) of my manly strength and vigor; [your birthright gave you] the preeminence in dignity and the preeminence in power.” However, Jacob told Joseph that the blessings upon him were “as lasting as the bounties of the eternal hills.”
These spiriutal blessings can include both physical and spiritual resources from God. Bonhoeffer notes that just as we pray for our daily bread, God's blessings can be both physical as well as spiritual. He writes, “As for daily bread includes the entire sphere of the necessities of physical life, so the petition [or I would add blessing] for life, health, and visible evidences of the friendliness of God belong necessarily to the prayer which points to the God who is the creator and sustainer of this life.” [4]
He notes that while the disciples left everything to follow Jesus, they lacked nothing they needed. Receiving from God what we need in health, life, peace, and earthly goods is “evidence of the gracious fellowship of God with us, and we thereby hold fast to the fact that God's gifts are better than life (Psalm 63:3 f.; 73:25 f.).” [5]
However, it is our relationship with God that is the greatest gift and blessing. It says in Genesis 15:1, “After these things [Abram was blessed by Melchizedek], the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am your Shield, your abundant compensation, and your reward shall be exceedingly great.”
Jacob longed to pass this inheritance of his own relationship with God on to his children and children's children. Genesis 48:15-16 says, “Then [Jacob] blessed Joseph and said, God [Himself], before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived and walked habitually, God {Himself], Who has [been my Shepherd and has led and] fed me from the time I came into being until this day, The redeeming Angel [that is, the Angel the Redeemer -not a created being but the Lord Himself] Who has redeemed me continually from every evil, bless the lads [Ephraim and Manasseh]! And let my name be perpetuated in them [may they be worthy of having their names coupled with mine], and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them become a multitude in the midst of the earth.” [a]
Psalm 84:5-8 says, “Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who dwell in Your house and Your presence; they will be singing Your praises all the day long. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs; the early rain also fills [the pools] with blessings. They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]; each of them appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah.
Joseph learned to make his valleys of sorrows places of springs. He brought God's Spirit into them and changed the environment around Him by blessing others. His places of affliction became places of fruitfulness.
God met Joseph in his deep places of need, pain and loss. Rather than feel sorry for himself for all his difficulties or worldly losses, he looked to God and found a place of strength and solace that filled him. And it was out of these deep wells of the Spirit, the Joseph blessed and served others with the love of God.
Psalm 84:9-12 goes on to say, “Behold our shield [the king as Your agent], O God, and look upon the face of your anointed! For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand [anywhere else]; I would rather be a doorkeeper and stand a the threshold in the house of My god than to dwell [at ease] in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving]!”
The problem is often (okay, at least with me) that we have our own expectations of how favor and blessing should look in order for us to see God as withholding no good thing from us. We do not see being rejected by our family, sold into slavery, or thrown in prison is being part of God's plan or goodness to us.
We become offended with God when we experience difficulty and start living our lives on our own terms. We decide we know what is best and make our own way, looking to meet our own expectations of what goodness should look like.
Jesus says in Matthew 11:6, “And blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) is he who takes no offense at Me and finds no cause for stumbling in or through Me and is not hindered from seeing the Truth.”
Instead of having misgivings about God because our circumstances are not what we expected, we are to trust in Him, lean on and believe on Him, confidently looking to Him to bring about His greater purposes.
Joseph was made fruitful in his place of suffering. Seeing God's purposes, he told his brothers in Genesis 45:7, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a posterity and to continue a remnant on earth, to save your lives by a great escape and save for you many survivors.”
Joseph could rejoice in his difficulties and tribulations because they were being used to save the lives of his family and others. Bonhoeffer notes that while human love is rooted in our own desires, genuine love for others is rooted in service.
Perhaps in the latter days we, like Joseph, are called to bless others by loving and serving them in a way that looks more like Joseph. Perhaps we are called to be a bless others in the midst of our own difficulty and pain, laying down our lives so that others might be saved.
Too often we love others only as long as we believe we are being blessed. And we only see ourselves as being blessed when circumstances are going our way and fulfilling our desires.
Bonhoeffer writes that while human love can look really good and sacrificial on the surface, we can tell the difference between it and genuine love in the face of an enemy. He notes that human loves turns into hatred, contempt and calumny – and that is where spiritual love begins. [6]
He writes that “spiritual love does not desire but rather serves, it loves an enemy as a brother. It originates neither in the brother nor in the enemy but in Christ and his Word.” [7]
Ephesians 2:14 says, “For He is [Himself] our peace (our bond of unity and harmony).”
Bonhoeffer notes that we belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ. [8] It is only through Christ that we can have unity, truly loving and serving our brother. And it is out of this place of relationship with Christ and genuine spiritual love that serves that we are able to truly bless others rather than looking for them to meet our needs.
Blessing requires one person to serve another out of a desire to see them be all that God has for them. And blessings flow from a genuine spiritual love for another. As Bonhoeffer notes, spiritual love comes from Jesus and serves him alone. [9]
Bonhoeffer writes, “Spiritual love recognizes the true image of the other person which he has received from Jesus Christ; the image that Jesus Christ himself embodied and would stamp upon all men.” He notes about this spiritual love that it meets another with “the clear Word of God.” [10]
In another place he writes that God has placed the Word of God in Jesus Christ (bringing redemption, righteousness, innocence, and blessedness) into the mouths of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. [11]
He writes, “God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him.” [12]
The Word of God in the form of a blessing, accompanying our faith, accomplishes God's purposes. Isaiah 55:10-11 says about the Word of God coming forth for another, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Too often we do not open ourselves up to blessing our brothers and serving them because we are disappointed about them not meeting our own expectations in our desire for spiritual community. We see the betrayals and faults of our brothers rather than calling forth the purposes and beauty of God in them.
Bonhoeffer notes that every human desire and dream that is injected into the Christian community must be banished if we are to have a genuine spiritual community with our brothers. He writes, “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” [13]
How we enter into spiritual community [or brotherly unity] according to Bonhoeffer is by letting go of our demands and expectations and becoming thankful recipients of what God gives us. He writes, “We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily.” [14]
Just as we need to let go of our expectations of what God's goodness in our lives looks like, we need to let go of our expectations of what brotherly fellowship and unity should look like. Bonhoeffer notes that it is only One that binds us together and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. He writes, “When the morning mists of dreams vanish, then dawns the bright day of Christian fellowship.” [15]
Lord, Would you fill our mouths with blessings for others that bring life wherever we go. May we be those who are filled with Your Presence and make a valley of sorrows a place of springs. Make us more like Joseph in the way that we bless others – out of a place of service and genuine love, even in our own pain and difficulties. And help us to let go of our expectations of you, your goodness, and of what spiritual community and unity look like. May we bring only Your will and purposes into every encounter with others.
[a] Besides blessing his sons, Jacob influenced his family by the way he lived his life and calling them to greater holiness. Even though they had been living in an age and place where having household idols and other gods one prayed for blessing, Jacob held only to the Living God. He called his family to put away idols and fear the one and only living God.
In Genesis 35:2-4 he told his household, “Put away the [images of] strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves and change [into fresh] garments; Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me wherever I went. So they [both young men and women] gave to Jacob all the strange gods they had their earrings which were [worn as charms against evil] in their ears; and Jacob buried and hid them under the oak near Shechem.”
1. MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Ge 49:22
2. Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Ge 49:24
3. Wikipedia. Blessing. Located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessing. Last Accessed 8/30/2011.
4-5. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. Augsburg Fortress, Minneapolis, MN. 1970.
6-15. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. 1954.
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Comments