HEBREW WORD STUDY – SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS – GISHEMI BERAKAH גשמי ברכה Gimmel Shin Mem Yod Beth Resh Kap Hei

Ezekiel 34:26: “And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.”

There are English words that are so overused and misused in a careless context that they lose the emotional impact for which the word was initially intended. For instance, we have the English word love. It is so overused and used in so many different contexts that we barely give it much consideration unless we really put it into a very well defined context like a deeply romantic love scene where the handsome young actor takes the beautiful actress in his arms on a moonlit night after overcoming death-defying obstacles to be together. He looks tenderly into her eyes and just before he gently kisses her on her lips he whispers in deep sincerity: “I love you.” Suddenly that word love is charged with deep passionate emotion and echos a depth of meaning far more than when we use the word love in another context such as I love Big Macs.

There is an English word that falls victim to the same overuse and misuse. It is the word blessing. The word blessing is used in so many different contexts that we are really unsure of what the word itself means. We have a vague idea that is something good that happens to us personally. A Catholic going to confession will repeat the words “Father bless me for I have sinned.” Not being a Catholic, the first time I heard that I thought: “Now what kind of sin can one commit to warrant a blessing from God.” Until it finally penetrated my thick Protestant skull that the Catholic Church teaches that a priest is granted the power to forgive sins did it dawn on me that the blessing is forgiveness of that sin. Maybe I am wrong in that assumption.

Webster defines our English word blessing as: “To consecrate or pronounce as holy. To request of God the bestowal of Divine favor or to bestow good of any kind upon something or someone. To extol as holy or to glorify as in blessing the Lord.” That sums up many different possible scenarios for the use of the word bless or blessing.

The word in Hebrew for bless is barak. How does that match up to our English word bless? Well, it does encompass all of the above and more. It has the idea of bowing and kneeling, ie., showing respect and honor. It is also used for unhindered prosperity and growth in the power of love.

The word bless is used throughout the Bible and in many different contexts. We really need to be careful to consider the context when we see the word bless. Let’s take Ezekiel 34:26. “And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” God is going to make them a blessing. Who are them? We have to go back to verse 22 to find that out. It is God’s sheep or flock. Even there he is singling out certain sheep in verse 20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. So God is going make them (the lean sheep, the persecuted sheep) and the places they dwell a blessing. Here the context calls for the idea of making one and/or something holy, separated or special. Then he will cause showers of blessings. Here the context calls for the word blessing to represent prosperity. This is associated with actual rains coming in their seasons which will bring about the growth of crops for food and water to drink. This will come after a time of suffering at the hands of the fat sheep, the ones who get rich off of making others poor.

Actually, the text could properly read: “They shall be showers of blessings.” Here is the suggestion that these showers are not just bringing prosperity, but holiness as well.

Right now in our country and the world, we are going through a crisis where businesses have shut down, people are unemployed, churches have closed their doors many are becoming those lean sheep being pushed aside by the fat sheep. To those God has given a promise that there will be showers of blessing. That is not only blessings of renewed prosperity but a prosperity birth in holiness.

When showers come the skies turn gray, the sun is hidden behind dark clouds. There is a cool breeze and then the rains come and everyone runs for shelter. I have more people who get on my disability bus during a rainstorm and comment; “What a miserable day.” Not for this old boy. I love it. I delight in the miracle of rain, drops of water from the sky bringing life and nourishment to all creation. I love the those dark, overcast, romantic rainswept days, the type of day you sit by your window with a cup of hot tea and just meditate on the thirsty plants and flowers of God’s creation reaching up for each drop of water, given freely and without cost by its Creator. What others see as a miserable day I see a the message of love from the God I love. Each drop of rain is a blessing, hundreds of thousands drop of water forming a shower of endless blessings from God.

Outside the rain begins

And it may never end

So cry no more, on the shore a dream

Will take you out to sea

Forevermore, forevermore.

Close your eyes and

You can be with Me

“Neath the waves, through the caves of hours

Gone, forgotten now

We’re all alone, we’re all alone.

Once a story’s told

It can’t help but grow old

Roses do, lovers too, so cast

Your seasons to the wind

-Written by Boz Scaggs-

(So, hold me, dear God, hold me).