I am Pastor Jorge E Diaz
Today's Reflection comes from Psalm 134 which presents us with an invitation and a promise.

Bless the Lord and He will bless you

Psalm 134

1 Come, bless the Lord!

All, yes, all the servants of the Lord.

You who have been appointed priests

and as guardians of the house of the Lord

Even after night comes

 and the doors are closed.

2 Lift up your hands in praise

in the house of the Lord

and bless the Lord.

3 In this way, the Lord of Zion,

the same one who made the heavens and the earth,

He will bless you.

A Paraphrase - Jorge E. Díaz

In his autobiography, Born Again, Charles Colson tells of one night in 1972, after President Richard Nixon had won the presidency of the United States. Colson, Chief of Staff Haldeman and Nixon himself found themselves sitting in the White House. They had achieved victory, but there was a feeling of sadness and a certain bitterness in the atmosphere. Almost all of us know that, a few months later, the investigation of a scandal called "Watergate", which ended in Nixon's impeachment, Haldeman's resignation, and jail for Charles Colson. He was sentenced to three years in prison.  In this interval, he became a Christian and changed his life.  After seven months in prison, Colson was released on parole and devoted himself to the social and spiritual assistance to prisoners, founding the organization Prison Fellowship Internationaland joined a church that was part of the  Southern Baptist Convention.

This organization helps convicts and ex-prisoners through professional, educational and spiritual training programs to facilitate their reintegration into society. It also has programs to support the families of prisoners and victims and families affected by crimes.

This is a good example of a follower of Jesus who decided to bless the Lord with his life, and God has blessed him with an impactful ministry.

Perhaps it has happened to you at some point, to desire something with all your being, to work with all your strength and do your best to achieve it, and once you have it, you try it, and it turns out that it leaves a bitter taste. Many people have told me that after they have reached that "goal" they wanted so much, they realize that it was not what they expected it to be. They are left with a bitter taste and confirm within themselves that it was not worth all the effort and energy they invested in achieving it.  They feel disenchanted with the precious project.  To put it bluntly, they neither wanted nor intended to bless God with their lives.

To establish a dynamic relationship with the Lord, it is important to consider some key words that will help us understand what it means to "bless the Lord with our lives."

All of us who like to attend some sports competitions have heard these three expressions full of emotion and excitement: "On your marks! Get set! ¡Go!" We are going to use them to explain, hopefully in a simple way, the message of Psalm 134.

On your marks! - is the preparation for the encounter with God through repentance. Repentance is the word that describes the act by which a person decides to leave things, interests, and striving for the things of this world and turns to God to praise Him, glorify His Name, and invite Him to be Lord of his life. It is time to decide! It is time to say, "Enough!" to the world and prepare to establish a dynamic relationship with the Lord.

Get set!  -  is when we become aware of all the blessings we have received for the Lord.  We are so humbled by His unfailing love that we come before him with gratitude, and we bless His Holy Name. This is what “Bless” means.

The key words of this Psalm are bless the Lord and you will be blessed by him. In the Hebrew language there are two words that are translated as "bless."

The first speaks of the moment when "everything falls into place" and we realize that unity is established. Everything is integrated. Like when you're putting together a puzzle and suddenly, after trying out several pieces, you find one that makes sense of the whole picture. It is interesting that this word is always used to describe what happens in man, never in God.

The other Hebrew word for blessing is "berekah" which describes what God does on our behalf. He takes the initiative, meets us on the road and blesses us with his Holy Spirit. It is as if he himself emptied his own being in us.

One of the richest images in the Bible, of how God blesses, is described as God bringing his tent – his tabernacle – and coming to live in our camp. It is the figure of a great Chief who leaves his palace, abandons his comforts, takes his backpack and his tent and comes to live with and among us. Now that's good newsworthy of our blessing to him for his unwavering love for us.

 GO! -  is when we come before the congregation to thank, bless and worship Him for all He has done for us.

Psalm 134 gives a command: Come, bless the Lord! All, yes, all the servants of the Lord.Then lift up your hands in praise in the house of the Lord and bless the Lord.

Here we find a statement of the reason we come to the house of the Lord: We come to bless Him. We are here to relate to him. To show him our gratitude and for him to show us his love.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I have just realized that you have many blessings for me, but that you are waiting until I praise and bless you to open your loving hand and bestow them abundantly in my life.  Lord, at this moment, I lift up my voice and my hands to you and praise you for your mercy endures forever. I bless you. Amen.

Reflection and action

God always keeps His promises. He blesses those who bless him. Whether you want to or not, you must go to the house of the Lord, lift up your hands, your heart, your thoughts, and bless the Lord. Say thank you for His blessings and then, open your mind and heart, wait for God to bless you. Don't go so fast, that when God is ready to give you what He has for you, you are no longer there, because you are already doing something else.

May God bless you is my heart's desire and my prayer for you today.