BLESSING GOD by H. B. Farnsworth

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 15, 1901

BLESSING GOD

By H. B. Farnsworth

H. B. FARNSWORTH, M. D. (College View, Neb.)

“His name shall endure forever: His name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in Him: all nations shall call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory.” Ps. 72: 17-19.

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20: 35.

This must have been the reason that God the Father gave Christ to us, because He really could not withhold Him when He saw our great need; and He experiences a blessed satisfaction when we accept Christ as our Saviour, and show in our subsequent lives that we really desire to copy the heavenly pattern. Christ must also experience a pleasure at seeing us accept the Holy Spirit as our guide; for He sent Him in His stead as a constant companion.

When an earthly gift is proffered, we do not spurn it nor turn from the giver, but give him the pleasure of our appreciation, and tell him our thankfulness. So should it be with our Heavenly Father: while He is continually giving us blessings and privileges of duty, and while He lends to us the aid of the Holy Spirit to guide us, to help in our daily walk, and to plead for us the things our characters most need, ought we not to give to God by grateful praise and heartfelt thanks the blessedness that comes from having His creatures acknowledge Him? How often we read, “Blessed be God;” and yet rarely think that we, too, need to bless God as much as the earlier believers, for the comfort and peace He speaks to our souls, and for the hope of at last having our character in accord with His.

Surely, since He gives us all that comes to us,—and all “work together” for good,—we should not be at all backward in calling Him blessed in return for the blessings He gives us.

Since He has placed within our power “to will and to do,” to accept or reject, let us show Him the highest homage and love by giving freely and unreservedly our every impulse, our undivided selves, that in time we may know the fullness of His love toward us, and experience the blessedness that comes from whole-souled and fervent sincerity. Then shall we be blessed with constancy in trusting, in working, and in watching. Let us bless God in our daily lives in contact with men by making our religion more practical.