Thoughts and Encouragements for Wounded Helpers
Joined to a Healing God
| Thoughts and Encouragements for Wounded Helpers
Joined to a Healing God |
Blessinga brief introductory Bible study on an often undervalued Christian mandate |
2007-01-14Many people often do believe in the effect of a curse
spoken by some kind of satanic priest. They fear it.
They fear the power of God's enemy behind it, or they fear it because
they don't know1.
But what about a blessing, spoken by a priest of the Almighty God,
or even by anyone?
Do we revere the power of the Almighty God behind it?
What actually can we believe about it?
Let's look at some of the Bible accounts. For the concept of 'blessing' is a very relevant subject in the Bible (as it appears in no less than 474 verses in the Authorized KJV - according to my Online Bible).
The first story I recall is about someone who also believed in the power of curses, but there was more...
We find this story in Num.22-24. Israel had been released from captivity in Egypt and were traveling back to Canaan. Balak - a king living in Moab, along the way where Israel went, his name means devastator - sees how terribly afraid his people become of Israel and Israels God, and he hires Balaam (= not of the people) to curse Israel.
The passage says that Moab was in great dread and overcome with fear of the people of Israel. They are afraid of being totally destroyed like the grass that is eaten by an ox. Then Balak sends messengers to Balaam to come and curse Israel. In that way, so he thinks, he might be able to defeat them and drive them away. He had this belief in Balaam's 'powers' because the fame of Balaam was great "... for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed."
Balak's messengers give this message to Balaam, after which God says to Balaam that he should not go with them and not curse Israel, "... for they are blessed." Balaam then at first doesn't want to go. He is offered large amounts of gold etc. But Balaam replies that even if Balak would offer him his house full of silver and gold, he would not go with them to curse Israel, because God had said 'no'. Later he does get permission to go with Balak's princes, but with an important condition: to obey God first!
Though God allowed him to go, He wasn't pleased with his going, and tries to stop him through an angel standing in the way. Only his donkey (his ass) sees the angel, till God opens his eyes. God says: "... I have come forth to withstand you, because your way is perverse before me" (emphasis mine). Balaam offers to go back, but the angel continues, with a similar exhortation as before: only to speak what God would give him to speak. Then, Balaam goes with the princes of Balak. Balam has really got the message, for he tells Balak that he has no power at all but only to speak the words that God would put in his mouth.
After that, seven altars are build and sacrifices are offered. And Balaam goes up a lone hill to hear what God has to say. God there speaks to him, and he has to disappoint Balak, as he says he cannot curse whom God has not cursed, not denounce whom the Lord has not denounced. And then, he goes forth describing the bless of Israel. He says they will be as numerous as a cloud of dust-particles and their end would be desirable. When Balak shows his dissatisfaction with this, Balaam answers him that he cannot speak differently from what God tells him to say.
Balak believes that maybe they are standing on a wrong place... (many people in those days believed gods to be restricted to places and spots on the earth). He asks Balaam to come to another place and curse Israel from there. Again they sacrifice, again God gives words in Balaam's mouth and Balaam speaks - that God is not a man, that he should lie or have to come back on his words. He is a God who does what He says, as is apparent from history. Balaam again stresses that he couldn't but say the words God gave him - words to bless Israel. He said God was with them, and that there would be no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel, because they are the work of God. As a lion it would be victorious. Balak then asks Balaam to stop saying anything. But Balaam answers again that he had to speak the words of God.
They move again - to a real mountaintop, overseeing Israel. Again they offer sacrifice. Then there is a small change of plot. Balaam gets the line of what God is doing and the Spirit of God comes upon him. He starts to truly see things from God's perspective and he starts to prophesy - a prophesy of the well-being of Israel in which he blesses Israel even more (chapter 24). Of course, Balak is not pleased by this at all. He gets angry. And this is when his true nature starts to emerge. He starts to blame God - saying Balaam will not be honoured because God has taken that honour away. But Balaam just repeats his earlier statements - that he would say only what God said.
Then Balaam goes on to describe what God and Israel will do to the people of Balak, later. At last, Balak (angry!) and Balaam depart, each going their own way.
What did I learn from this story?
In Num.6:22-27 we find a description on how Aaron and his sons were to bless the people of Israel.
"The LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron and his sons, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 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. "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them." (emphasis mine)
What drew my attention in the first place is the phrase:
"... The LORD make his face to shine upon you...".
The Living Bible translates: "... may the Lord's face radiate with
joy because of you,...".
Psychologists say that what a baby needs as much as food (e.g. his
mother's milk) and warmth, is a look into the face of a primary caregiver
who delights in him or her2.
The well known pastoral worker and writer Leanne Payne calls this smiling
and affirming face of the mother the umbilical cord of the soul of
the child, by which it can grow up and mature healthily.
That smiling face gives the infant a sense of belonging, of connectedness,
of being loved and of personal value: "there is someone who delights
in me!" This delight also gives a sense of security: "So,
I will be provided for".
In accordance with Hebrew style of poetry, this expression is emphasised
here by a variant of it: "The LORD lift up his countenance upon
you", which emphasises once more the personal affirmation extending
from God's shining face, while at the same time it may be connotated to
God's protection (cf. the lifted head of the triumphant).
Another thing that stands out is that the people were to be blessed with grace - undeserved merit and empathy - and peace - in the full sense of shalom and wellbeing. This combination of the corresponding Greek terms is later used by the apostle Paul to translate the fullness of the Hebrew notion of shalom as freely given by God. The two fit closely in with the grace-full and affirming way God looks at his people as discussed above (the shining face and lifted countenance).
It is all the more remarkable that the facial expressions - the emotionally perceivable notions that are so vital to our sense of worth and connectedness - are mentioned before the more intellectually understandable or perceivable notions3.
All this is a way, says verse 27, to put the name of God on the people. In those days, the name of a person was his presence, his personhood. The blessing is thus meant to connect the people to their God and to make room for Him in their hearts. All this prepares the way for God to bless them.
This story can be found in Ex.17:8-13. Amalek wants to fight with Israel - again: because they are afraid. Moses asks Joshua to lead the fighting. He himself, with Aaron and Hur, go up a nearby hill overseeing the valley where the battle was to take place. Moses lifts up his hands - a symbol of blessing and a symbol of praising God. And as long as he does so, the Israelites prevail, but when he lowered his hands when he became tired, Amalek prevailed. Then they take a stone for Moses to sit on and Aaron and Hur help him to keep his hands lifted up to God in praise and blessing. In that way, Joshua mowed down the people of Amalek with the edge of the sword, as it says.
To me, this is a stunning example of the power granted by God to certain 'rituals', to be performed by a leader.
Apparently, the best a leader can do in some cases, is not to fight together with his men, but just be there on that hilltop, and bless them and worship God. However, this is not a general rule; not a 'formula' that always 'works' (as if we could manipulate God). But it certainly is apparent that God values some obedient form of rituals - like this standing there with uplifted hands - and grants power to them!
This appalling story we find in Gen.27 (cf. Hebr.11:20). Isaac is old and blind and seeing his end is approaching. He says to Esau - the oldest of their twins, to hunt some nice animal for him and prepare it. Then, he would eat it and bless his son with the blessing that was given to the oldest son.
His wife, Rebekah, overheard the conversation and instructed her favourite of the two, Jacob. He should get a small animal, she will prepare some nice meat dish from it and he will bring it to his father Isaac. He objects that Isaac will feel his skin and discover that he is not as hairy as his brother. She covers his hands with animal skin and gives him Esau's clothes to wear. Jacob does as he is told by his mother. He goes to Isaac and says he is Esau. Isaac hears Jacob's voice, but feels the hairy skin and smells Esau's odour, so he blesses Jacob as it were the oldest son Esau. "See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed! May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one who curses you, and blessed be every one who blesses you!"
Of course, a little later Esau returned, prepared his meat dish, brought it to his father to ask for the blessing. Isaac is surprised. Upon hearing that Jacob had been there before, Esau cries loud and bitter and asks for his father to bless him too. Isaac, however, has to say: "Your brother came with guile, and he has taken away your blessing." It is as if the blessing is a material thing that cannot be given away twice. Esau feels heavily betrayed by Jacob. Then, he asks whether his father hasn't reserved another blessing for him. Isaac answers: "Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?" Esau cries upon which his fathers speaks: "Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you break loose you shall break his yoke from your neck."
A blessing cannot be made undone...
The blessing of the oldest son was unique.
Even when to our western mind this was unfair or whatever.
Again: the 'blesser' had to submit totally to God and speak His words.
What struck me in this story is what Isaac says in verse 37.
The words of blessing equalled actual authoritative actions: I
have made..., I have given..., I have sustained...
Note: Hebr.11:20 is clear on the condition of Isaac's blessing: faith - that intimacy between God and us: "By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau".
Now, how are we involved? Are some accounts of people blessing each other - are they all the Bible is saying about it? No, the Bible goes further than that, as in Peter's first letter, chapter 3, verses 8 to 12 (cf. also Rom.12:14). After a call to unity of spirit, sypathy, love for each other, a tender heart and a humble mind in verse 8, the essence I now focus on comes in verse 9: "Do not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing." Then follow more exhortations to clean our speach and behaviour and seek peace, because God focusses His attention to those who do so and He is against those who do evil.
This 'calling to bless' and 'obtaining a blessing' draws back on our goal to become Christ-like. He began by blessing humanity in the first place (Gen.1:22,28; 5:2; 9:1; etc.).
This text shows the nature of blessing as opposed to reviling. Literally the Greek word used - eulogeo - can be translated as: 'good words' or: 'speaking well about'. It is constituted from 'eu' - a word for 'good', and the word 'logos' (as in theology). 'Logos' is the word par excellence signifying the 'word that has the authority to create or restore'. It is associated with God's speaking in Gen.1: He spoke the world and all life on it into being (cf. John 1:1). That is why 'blessing' - speaking with God's authority (logos) the positive / wellness (eu) over people - is such a powerful concept. It is also a holy concept, only to be used with great humility and submission to God.
Two notes to conclude this section:
1. The following text has sometimes been misunderstood and misinterpreted:
Yet, we see people bless (=praise) God in the Bible.
How can this be? What Heb.7:7 refers to, is, in my view, the fact that
only a higher authority has the power to bring a blessing about.
A blessing spoken in our own authority puts another person down (as we
then claim superiority). A blessing spoken in the Name (authority) of Jesus
acknowledges our own limitations (weakness) in bringing about real change,
and adheres to His desire and authority to bless.
Another aspect is that the frequent use in the Bible of the same word
for God (or e.g. priests) blessing people and people blessing God sort of
reframes blessing and puts it into the frame of mutual connectedness and
affirmation or empowerment - in spite of the obvious difference between
Creator and creature.
One could ask the question whether God is dependent on affirmation by us,
human beings. Isn't that in contradiction to His sovereignty?
This is a deep theological issue.
A more extensive and intriguing exposé about it can be found in the
book by John Ernest Sanders, The God Who risks - A theology of
providence, IVP, Downers Grove Illinois, 1998.
2. In the beginning we were talking about power. There are several places where the apostle Paul is getting really excited when he writes - he hardly can end his sentence. One of them is in Ephesians 1:16-23:
"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power in us who believe, according to the working of His great might which He accomplished in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and made Him sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and He has put all things under His feet and has made Him the head over all things for the Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all."
We have been granted the power that brought Jesus back from death as Victor. Do we take up the holy priesthood to use that power to bless?
From the examples above, we get a little bit of sight on what it means: 'to bless'? A real lot more can be said about that. In summary: The words used for blessing in the Greek and Hebrew have the connotation of: speaking the good over, lift up, praise / worship, speak positively about, kneel before, and are associated with: make fruitful or successful and with showing respect. The concept of one person blessing another in God's Name is powerful - unimaginable things are being brought about by it. It demands total submission to God (the Hebrew word is derived from to kneel). 1 Petr.3:9 puts it over and against reviling = a form of speaking that is negative, putting down, destructive.
Blessing one another is a Judeo-Christian mandate that's not to be forsaken!
Wilhard Becker, Nicht plappern wie die Heiden, Kühne, 1968 (in German; Dutch translation, by H.J. Teutscher: Hoe moeten wij bidden - Onze verhouding tot God in gebed, J.N. Voorhoeve, Den Haag, 1974; ISBN 90 297 0363 6; see especially Ch.9 - 'Niet vloeken, maar zegenen' ('Do not curse but bless')).
Craig Hill, ‘The Power of the Blessing’, web-article at Family Foundations Int’l.
John Piper, Your Calling is to Bless Believers, sermon about 1 Peter 3:8-12, given at Bethlehem on Sept.11, 1994; also available in mp3 format.
Téo J. van der Weele: Zegenend Helpen - Een studie over het zegenen van hulpvragers als onderdeel van pastorale zorg, Eigen uitg. van de auteur, 1990 (2e druk: 1992). (= Helping by Blessing - textbook used in the course by that name, as well as an additional coursebook).
Teo J. van der Weele, Dus ... ik ben niet GEK. Hulpverlening aan incestslachtoffers, een pastorale/ interculturele benadering, Eigen uitg. van de auteur / Stg. Zon, Harderwijk, 1992.
Téo van der Weele: From Shame to Peace - Counselling and caring for the sexually abused, Monarch, Crowborough GB, 1995 (new edition published by Importantia, Dordrecht NL, 2002; German, Finnish and Dutch translations also available). (Chapter 1 is available online, as an appetizer.)
André de Haan: Nou, het beste... - Over zegenen gesproken, Filippus, Arnhem NL, 1999.
Gary Smalley & John Trent: The gift of the blessing (updated and expanded edition), Nelson Word Publ. Milton Keynes, England GB, 1993 (first ed. 1986).
Erik Veenhuizen: Mijn zegen heb je..., Opwekking Magazine, Maart 2000, p.4-6.
Peter de Bruijne: Hij kwam zichzelf tegen in Rwanda - een interview met Téo van der Weele, Opwekking Magazine, Nr.421, April 1999, p.9-12.
Rens Filius: 'Pastorale Counseling', 'Zegenend Helpen' en de vraag naar een christelijke methode in het pastoraat, Cahier (Christelijk Studiecentrum ICS), Nr.20, jaargang 7 nr.3, dec. 1993, p.41-50.
Dr A.A.A. Terruwe, Give Me Your Hand - About Affirmation, Key to Human Happiness, Croydon, Victoria, Spectrum Publications, 1973 (translation, by Martin Van Buuren, of: Geef mij je hand - over bevestiging, sleutel van menselijk geluk, in Dutch, with drawings by Ton Smits, De Tijdstroom, Lochem NL, 1972).
Gordon Dalbey, The
Way Of The World, The Way Of The Cross, the Navigators' Discipleship
Journal (Issue 36, 1986, pp.12-14).
Note: in this article, Dalbey contrasts the two
ways by paraphrasing the Beatitudes in the way the world would put it.
In this way, he makes it very clear how different Jesus and His blessing
attitude was! Recommended!
| 1 | Jesus cursed too - and with consequences - compare what happened to the fruitless figtree: Mat.21:18-19! |
| 2 | E.g. on p.28-29 of her book Geef mij je hand (see under literature references), Anna Terruwe, the Christian psychologist and writer, cites the poem 'De eerste glimlach van het kind' (The first smile of the child) from the famous Dutch writer and neurologist Frederik van Eeden - which boils down to the statement made. The well known developmental psychologist John Bowlby said similar things in several of his works. See also the article: The Aaronic Priestly Blessing: God's Shining Face - how science and the Bible agree on what we need (on this site). |
| 3 | This equality or even primacy of emotions (affect) over mind (intellect) can be seen in the Bible more often. E.g. in Psalm 27 where David mentions two aspects of the communion with God: (1) to gaze upon His beauty (affect) and (2) to study the Scriptures (intellect) in His presence. And in Rom.12:1-2, where yielding our body - the seat of our emotions - as a living sacrifice to God precedes the renewal of our mind. |
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For more information, or your reaction to the above, you can contact me via e-mail: andre.roosma@12accede.nl.
, Accede!, Zoetermeer / Soest NL, 2001-06-09 / 2018-09-07;
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