Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at what it means to be blessed, what it means to be broken, and what it means to be given by Jesus.
Today, are theme is going to center around what it means to be “blessed”’. What does it mean to be blessed?
Imagine that an alien were to land on our planet and observe how we use the word, ‘Blessed’, and then, determine it’s meaning SOLELY by how it is used on social media.
The alien might conclude that being #Blessed is about having beautifully made lattes and perfect kitchen remodels, Instagrammable vacations and beautiful spouses.
But that has nearly nothing to do with what the Bible means by blessing. Many of the things we associate with a blessed life – health, provision, beauty, material things – are, of course, gifts from God. But they are like hints and shadows of the real and true blessedness.
To reframe how we think about blessing, we’re going to have to go back to the beginning.
When we read through our scripture lesson today, do you notice these particular descriptive phrases?
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good…
12 The earth brought forth vegetation and trees… And God saw that it was good
17 And God … give light on the earth to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good…
21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves …. and God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply…
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image…. And let them have dominion over all the earth…
28 And God blessed them…’
There is a great theme in those verses that begin the Biblical story … “And God saw that it was good … and God blessed them…”
Our origin story is rooted in the origin story of the whole of creation. God established blessing from the origins and foundations of the world.
If we want to understand who we are and what makes us blessed, we have to go back to the creating, ordering, and blessing of the world.
When the Bible tells us the story of the beginning, it begins with a Person, God. “In the beginning, God…” All things have their origin in God.
In the ancient world everyone knew that some god or collection of gods were responsible for the material world.
They were not like people in our day, who imagine the world as a series of automated processes, or random incidents with no divine involvement.
For people in ancient times, the questions were not “Did god make this?” and “How?”, but rather, “Which god made this?” and “Why?”
The questions of which god and why are massively significant, and these are the ones the Genesis account wants to answer most clearly.
To illuminate the picture of God presented in Genesis, we need to set the backdrop. Like an artist working with vivid contrasts to make a subject stand out, God reveals Himself in the Scriptures in a way that is especially stunning against the landscape of other origin stories from the ancient Middle East.
To the question “Which god made the heavens and the earth?” many of Israel’s ancient neighbors would answer with names of regional gods who were power hungry and jealous, making deals to gain more jurisdiction and stopping at nothing – even murder – to rule over all.
To the question “Why did they make humans?” the answer would be that humans were made to be slaves of the gods – to do work the gods didn’t want to do.
This is certainly not very good news.
When you start to compare the Genesis account to the other ancient accounts, you see how Scripture reveals a very different kind of God.
Specifically, notice three things that set the God of Genesis apart from the gods of the day (small g gods).
First, recognize that there is only one God.
Genesis reveals that YHWH (Yahweh) is the supreme, sovereign God. Genesis reveals an entirely unique view of the spiritual realm.
In contrast to the many other ancient Middle Eastern beliefs, one God stands apart as the sole sovereign ruler over all creation.
Genesis depicts no division of divine jurisdiction. Unlike the way their neighbors thought, Israelites did not have a separate god of the sea, god of the land, or god of fertility. There was and is only one God.
And it must have been captivating to hear the famous words of Deuteronomy 6:4 repeated at holy assemblies: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one”. YHWH is set apart as uniquely powerful, greater than all other gods.
As the lead character in the opening scenes, God not only exists, but He also acts. God is all through the opening verses of Genesis as the only active character. There are no rivals and no one else adding input or ideas. There is simply God, who speaks, forms, makes, calls, and blesses … all by himself
The second thing that sets the God of Genesis apart from the small g gods of the day is that the sole sovereign God, the God of Genesis creates the world on purpose and with purpose.
While that might seem obvious to us, it was not for ancient readers. As we noted previously, some ancient beliefs saw creation as the result of a bloody battle among the gods, or the gods’ way of getting cheap labor around the universe.
The God of Genesis, however, sets out to make the world carefully, deliberately, and methodically. Genesis 1 and 2 were meant to be a purpose story, a song about why we’re here and why it matters.
And just what does Genesis say about why we’re here? It tells us we are here because God called us into being. God MADE US ON PURPOSE, and God made us WITH A PURPOSE IN MIND. Not for cosmic labor, but for a love relationship with Him.
So, there is only one God, who made us on purpose and with purpose. Finally, the third thing that sets the God of Genesis apart from the small g gods of the day is that He blesses what He makes.
Not only is God a sovereign and an intentional creator, but He is also the God who loves and blesses what He creates. This is different from other ancient accounts of the beginning of the world.
From the very beginning as we heard earlier, the God who creates also blesses what He has made. He called it good.
The word good has many meanings, but in some contexts, it means “beautiful.” In a very real way, all that is good and beautiful in the world is the result of God’s blessing.
Imagine the people of God living in exile in Babylon, not feeling very blessed. They strain their eyes to see something of God’s hand and train their ears to hear something of God’s voice, when all of a sudden, they remember… “This world and everything in it was made by God”!
This tree, this stream, this flower, this fruit – everything that flourishes around them – only flourishes because God has blessed it.
The blessing of God on the material world would have been a source of consolation and a spark of worship in an otherwise difficult land of exile.
As I make the case that creation is “good and beautiful”, let me ask you this, “Is that how you see yourself?” Do you see yourself as good and beautiful?
Maybe on a good day. But I believe we often struggle to see ourselves as good OR beautiful, let alone both. We’re too aware of our shortcomings or our plainness.
We think … I’m not really good; I’m a bit of a mess, actually. And beautiful? Well, I wouldn’t say that. Perhaps just ordinary.
But the Genesis story grounds us in God. God Himself made us on purpose and for a purpose. God blessed us by calling us good and beautiful. That is our origin story.
So, here is the bottom line … being blessed is not a state – it’s a story. It’s an origin story. It’s the story of how you began and why. It’s the story of God the creator calling you into being on purpose and for a purpose.
It’s the story of God taking delight in you and naming you as good and beautiful. It’s the story of God the redeemer pursuing you, calling you, and returning you to who He made you to be.
The God, who called light out of darkness, calls you out of darkness and into light. In doing so, He brings you back to the beginning, to YOUR beginning. And that is where it starts … YOU ARE BLESSED. (pause)
Maybe that’s not where your story is today. Maybe that’s not what others have told you about yourself.
The Book of Genesis contains many, many stories of God blessing people. In Genesis 12, God calls Abraham and blesses him. Then in Genesis 16, God interrupts a female, Egyptian slave on the run, and blesses her as well.
A female Egyptian slave. Nothing could have defined her more as an outsider. In her day she would have been considered the very opposite of blessed. To be a female in the ancient world meant being regarded as valuable only insofar as you were useful to a man.
Whether for offspring or pleasure or domestic labor, a woman’s usefulness was something she had to prove. She was thought to possess no intrinsic value. To be Egyptian, in the eyes of Israelites, meant being an enemy.
Later generations of Israelite children, listening to these stories of their heritage, would have marked this slave as belonging to the wrong group.
To be a slave meant having no freedom and no future. Slaves had no rights, no inheritance, no destiny. There is no reason we should know her name. She should be an outsider, invisible to God.
But Hagar is on the run because Sarah, barren wife of the newly blessed Abraham, was jealous and resentful toward her. Genesis says that Sarah was harsh with Hagar.
Things had gotten so bad that Hagar thought fleeing into the wilderness with no provisions and no plan would be better than staying in that house. Hagar, pregnant with Ishmael, was prepared to die in the desert.
Hagar thought it was over. She was sure no one would help, and no one would come to her rescue. (pause)
But God found Hagar by a well in the wilderness. She had stopped at a spring for what could have been one last drink. And then an angel of the Lord met her there, and called her by her name.
(Genesis 16:8a) Then, the angel asked Hagar two questions, “Where have you come from, and where are you going?”
Have you ever thought that when God asks a question, His intent is not to enter into a personal conversation? No, He’s typically staging an intervention.
These two questions that God asked her were about origin and destiny. Hagar thought she knew her origin and her destiny, where she had come from and where she was going.
But God was about to rewrite her story. God told Hagar to go back to Abraham’s house, not because God condoned Sarah’s mistreatment of her, but because there was no other way for Hagar to be saved. She would die in that wilderness.
Then, the angel also said to her, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” Genesis 16:10
This was Abraham’s blessing. This was the promise that was restated when God made a covenant with Abraham in the chapter right before the Hagar story – that his offspring would be like the stars, too many to count.
Right from the start, God made it clear … He wants everyone to be able to get in on the blessing. He desires all to be swept up in his saving and redeeming love.
When Hagar understood this, she was in awe. She had seen God! Hagar responded by naming God in verse 13, when she said, “You are the God who sees me.”
Hagar then said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?” (Genesis 16:13).
Maybe you think you missed the Genesis 1 blessing. Maybe you find yourself on the run from a place of pain and suffering, like Hagar, convinced that God does not see you. I’m here to tell you today, that God sees you, and He always has.
I am a messenger he sent to find you in the wilderness, to ask you where you think you’ve come from and where you think you’re going.
And then, I am to tell you that God is re-writing your story. Your origin is BETTER than you thought, and SO is your destiny.
The bread that Jesus took and blessed did not become something else; it became what bread was made to be. Material things are not the opposite of sacred things.
You see, the whole created world was made to be a container of God’s glory. To be blessed is to be returned to our origin and destiny; it is not simply to be RESTORED, but to be re-story-ed.
The God who called light out of darkness…
The God who called Abraham out of his father’s house…
The God who called Hagar out of the wilderness…
…is calling you. God has come to bless you today. He has come to re-write your story, to return you to your origin and your destiny.
All He asks in return is to place your life in His hands and fully receive His blessing. Amen