Blessings and Curses

We use the word "blessed" a lot. He's blessed for winning the Super Bowl. She's blessed for getting a good job. They're blessed to have a good family, good health, whatever. We use it, generally, to express gratitude for good things, even if there is no genuine object of the gratitude. That is, often people say they're "blessed" for the good things they have without acknowledging the "Good-Things Giver." Generally, then, we think of "blessed" as "happy".

Biblically, there are blessings and curses. The structure is found in the classic Aaronic blessing:

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. (Num 6:24-26)

That is, in biblical terms to be "blessed" by God is to be kept by God, to have God's grace, to have God's peace, all on the basis of having God's "face toward you." A curse, then, would be the opposite -- God looks away. He turns His back.

Keith Green was an American Christian musician. He wrote a lot of songs, but one of his best known was Oh Lord, You're Beautiful.

Oh Lord, You're beautiful
Your face is all I seek
For when Your eyes are on this child
Your grace abounds to me.

In this song Keith captures some of the wonder of being biblically blessed. We tend to think -- in the Beatitudes (Matt 5:2-12), for instance -- that "blessed" means "happy," and it does, but it means so much more than happy. It means God is looking. It means that God is paying attention. It means that He is actively involved working things out. It means He is pleased. It means that He is keeping you, being gracious to you, giving you peace. It is so much more than just "happy".

We all want to be happy. It's just part of the human structure. It's not bad. How we become happy can be, but "happy" itself is not bad. It's just ... transient. It is a warm feeling in response to a perception of a positive condition or event. How much better, then, is "blessed"? It isn't merely a shade of difference. When His eyes are on you, His grace abounds to you. To seek that blessing is a singular goal, a very good thing.

Bottom line, where is your treasure? Do you find your greatest satisfaction in a close relationship with God, or is your satisfaction found in other things? Where your treasure is your heart will be (Matt 6:21). If your heart's desire is to know Him (Phil 3:8-11), then your greatest joy will be found in the biblical blessing -- His face toward you. In this case, "happy" does not begin to describe it.