Blessing

 

1 Chronicles 16:43 Then all the people left, each for his own home, and David returned home to bless his family. (NIV)

 

I laughed when read this verse recently. Not because it was funny verse, but because I thought about how it is when I come home.  I wondered if I blessed my family. How blessed do they feel when  I come home with gripes and complaints or when I am in a bad mood.

 

This verse is believed refer to a formal blessing that David would give to his family after blessing the whole nation on the occasion of bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  In the ancient days, a blessing was taken very seriously. Read Genesis 27 about Jacob and Esau and you see how important this was to the Jewish people.

 

Do we bless our families today? Can we bless our families?

 

Using the bible as a reference, it is perfectly acceptable for us to bless our families in a special and religious sense, but I wonder if we don't bless them or fail to bless the more often than we think

 

"Boy, you did good work on that picture, I bet you could be an artist if you tried"

 

While the psychology books would call that a affirming statement, In a Christian home it is a blessing!

 

"Why are you so stupid?" Not a blessing, and is it not in reality a curse?

 

Are you blessing your family? Are you cursing your family?

 

Jacob's Blessing Gen 27:28-29 28 May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness-- an abundance of grain and new wine. 29 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed." (NIV) Prov 3:33 The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. (NIV)