I bless you in the Name of the Lord!

Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.  (Proverbs 11:11 NIV)

Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted.”

The word "blessing" here doesn’t mean that we need to go out and bless our cities with our time, our money, or social programs.  Those would be good ways to bless, for sure, but that's not the meaning given here.

The word blessing in this Proverb, in Hebrew, means “benediction.” (Strongs, 1983)

When people give benedictions, they’re simply declaring a blessing on something.   

According to this Proverb, then, when we declare a blessing on a city, it will be exalted, blessed. 

And it’s also by our words that a city can be destroyed.

Our words can determine the fate of cities?

Amazing.

It also stands to reason, then, that our words can determine the fate of everything else in our lives as well.  Makes me want to declare blessings not only on my city and country, but also on myself, my kids and my grandkids.

It reminds me of a church I visited years ago in DC.  As we walked through the door, the Pastor stopped each person and said, “I bless you in the Name of the Lord.”  A simple, beautiful, powerful blessing. 

 

 

Reference:

Strong, James. Strongs Exhaustive Concordance: Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order, Together with Dictionaries of the Hebrew and Greek Words of the Original, with References to the English Words. Baker Book House, 1983.

 

 

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