Monday 9 December 2024

Psalm 113

Background
Have you ever been told to ‘count your blessings’? When my son was just a baby, he frequently had me up in the night feeding, while my husband happily slept under the covers. I remember feeling tired and resentful. What helped me during those long nights was to try to focus instead on my blessings. I started to list all the reasons I was blessed and all the things about being a new mother that I was thankful for. I find it helpful to remember this when I don’t feel blessed or thankful!

In this letter to the church in Ephesus, ascribed to Paul, his greeting is followed by a whole paragraph talking about the spiritual blessings believers have in Christ (vs 3-14). In Greek the paragraph is one long sentence of praise – I feel breathless just thinking about it! It takes the form of a Jewish ‘berakah’, a form of words which pronounces God to be ‘blessed’ – worthy of all praise – because of who God is and what God does. The emphasis here is not on material blessings but on how believers ‘in Christ’ are spiritually blessed. Paul has some challenging things to write to the Ephesian Christians. But he wants to remind his readers, at the start of the letter, how blessed they are, as he writes this long song of praise to God.

The repeated phrases ‘in Christ’, ‘in him', and ‘in the Beloved’ throughout this letter remind the readers that they are blessed through the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom they have put their faith. This is important because people sometimes believe that those who are good are blessed – that people ‘get what they deserve’. Yet God’s people are blessed because of God’s goodness and through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writes that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has "blessed us in Christ", "chosen us in Christ" and "destined us for adoption as his children" (vs 3, 4, 5). In response, those who place their hope in Christ are called to live "for the praise of his glory".

To Ponder:

• If you wrote a list of your blessings, what would be on it?
• You might like to take some time today to write your own letter of praise to God – for who God is and what God has done in your life. If you do, who would be blessed by reading it?

Prayer
A prayer from Ephesians 3:20-21: Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Kate Cambridge
Kate is a presbyter in the Winchester Eastleigh and Romsey Circuit. In her free time she enjoys doing laundry (!), spending time with her family and wrestling ball point pens off her miniature poodle.