How can we "bless" God?

Q: In the last verse of Psalm 145 (in the NLT), it says, "may everyone on earth bless [God's] holy name forever and ever." Can you help me understand what it means to "bless God's holy name," and how that's accomplished?

A: If we take “blessing” in a formal sense, it would be very hard to imagine how we, as weak, limited, human beings, could ever presume to bless omnipotent infinite God. Yet the blessing we offer is not the kind passed down from father to son or the superior to an inferior, but rather a synonym for praise. This verse depending on the translation uses either “bless” or “praise”. The Hebrew word in question is barak (Strong’s #1288) which pictures us as kneeling before God to praise, celebrate and adore Him. On a practical level, what is one big way that we can bless God? Psalm 103:1-2 says repeatedly that we are to bless him with all our soul and in verse 2 gives us a hint about how to do it, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…” and then goes on in the rest of the psalm to list and explain a number of benefits that the Lord provides. When we remember what He has done, and is now doing, we can’t help but praise/bless Him.

When the Bible talks about God's "name" it is speaking of His whole character and nature not just a means of identification like we usually understand a name. God's whole character is "holy" and gives us a tremendous amount of material for which to praise/bless Him!

Why do we stretch out our hand towards a baby that is being dedicated?

Q: When Pastor Randy does a baby dedication (and sometimes in other prayer situations), he asks the congregation members to reach out their hands toward the family. Can you explain why he makes that request, and what it signifies?

A: Great question! In the Bible, the traditional way of passing on a blessing from father to son was through the laying on of hands. The father would place his hand on the son that he was blessing and then would speak a blessing over them. There was even a priority given to the blessing of the right hand over the left hand (Genesis 48:14). The laying on of hands idea also seems to have been adapted to large group settings where the hands would simply be raised towards the one being blessed. Here are a few examples from the Bible:

• When Aaron the High Priest of Israel blessed the people he did it by lifting up his hands towards them and speaking the blessing (Lev. 9:22).
• In Nehemiah 8:6, when Ezra read the law and blessed the LORD (Yahweh) before the people they answered, “’Amen, amen’, lifting up their hands.”
• When parents brought their children to Jesus seeking a blessing, He took them in his arms and blessed them laying his hands on them (Matthew 19:15; Mark 10:16).
• Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He lifted up his hands and blessed his followers (Luke 24:50).
• The custom of laying hands on those to be blessed or commissioned was continued in the early church in when seven men, full of the Holy Spirit were chosen then commissioned as “deacons” (Acts 6:6) to care for the needs of the church.
• The people of Samaria received the Holy Spirit after hands were laid on them (Acts 8:17).
• Paul and Barnabas were commissioned and sent out by the elders at Antioch (Acts 13:1-3).
• Paul laid hands on some disciples at Ephesus and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:6)
• Timothy received a gift prophetically when the elders had laid their hands on him in prayer (1 Timothy 4:14).

So in church when we raise and stretch out our hands towards the baby being dedicated, or the missionaries being sent out, we are simply following the ancient biblical example for directed prayer and blessing. So together, with hands stretched out, we are participating in the prayer being offered (it is kind of like a visual “Amen!”). I hope that helps!