When you ask someone how they are doing, do you ever get this comeback? “I’m blessed.” Do we really know what being blessed means other than some feel-good response to life or positive confession to ward off agreeing with the enemy?
In this time of turmoil with the coronavirus and the quarantines, many may not be feeling so ‘blessed.’ Regardless, I’ve been doing some treasure hunting in the word this week and feel prompted to share it.
Here is the scripture we’ve been uncovering.
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him. Psalm 34:8
Along with it, I am going to give you a little lesson in excavation. As I’ve written before, but repeat it now to remind us, Hebrew is unlike any other language. It’s the one language God chose to use to first communicate with His children. Hebrew letters have unusual dynamics. Each letter has a name– ie. Aleph, Bet, Gimmel, Dallet, Hey, etc. Each letter has a numerical value and each number has a meaning. In the beginning, each letter was a pictograph and from the pictograph, we derive meaning.
So, there are layers and layers of understanding in each letter. But until you get out your tools and dig in, you will only get the surface meaning.
Here is the word Blessed in Hebrew: 
Strong’s #835. Now this is the word blessed in Psalm 34:8. The word blessed appears in other scriptures but the Strong’s number may be different depending on the way the word is used. Blessed is also translated as Happy.
Point two: the little dots around the word are vowel markings to let you know which vowels are being used in the word. Vowels do not have letters like our English–a-e-i-o-u.
Blessed here begins (reading right to left) with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet– Aleph. Aleph is its name. Its numerical value is 1. And the number 1 stands for God, Unity (as bringing two things together to form one object–in this case, Father, Son, Holy Spirit are One.) It also stands for unique, one of a kind, like no other.
The original pictograph looked like this: The early Hebrew looks like an Ox Head.
As we dig into the meaning: Aleph means strength or power, Leader, Most Important or first. The strength and power of a leader.
When Aleph is in a word, God is usually involved in the definition. In the case of the word blessed, we will find that His strength and power are found.
Okay, the second letter is Shin (pronounced Sheen). Shin has a numerical value of 300 and that number stands for victory of good over evil and the Holy Spirit. Reading right to left, Shin’s pictograph looks like the bottoms-up teeth of a pitchfork. Others see it as teeth, or flames of fire:
The meaning: To destroy or consume, the fire of God to destroy His enemies, something sharp.
In this, we see that in being blessed, something is being destroyed and victory of good over evil is the result.
The last letter in our word today is Resh. Resh has a numerical value of 200 which stands for insufficiency or poverty.
The pictograph of Resh, reading left to right here, is the profile of a human head:
Resh ‘s meaning is Head, Chief, Beginning, Highest or Most Important person, Human reasoning vs. obedience. (When we allow Resh-human reasoning to be our master, the most important source, poverty of Spirit results.)
Whew, that was quite a dig. Let’s dust these off and see what we have.
BLESSED: We are blessed because God in Oneness (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), is moving in strength and power to destroy our enemies and overcome our human reasoning and insufficiency.
It is interesting to note that the first mention of this Strong’s #835 word in scripture is in Deuteronomy 33:29. It speaks of the victory Israel has because they were saved by the LORD. Note Blessed translated as, and ‘Happy,” as it is in other verses of the Bible.
Happy (#835) art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the Shield of thy help, and Who is the Sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.. (capitalization added for emphasis)
Regardless of what we are facing in this time of quarantine and chaos, God is with us. He is at work destroying our enemies. Enemies like the idolatry of sports, entertainment, consumerism, our own intellect to figure things out, loss of real relationship among family members and friends, our pride and sense of superiority, etc. He is leveling the field and helping us return to basics. We are helping each other. We are praying and trusting in Him alone for the help we need. We are getting reacquainted with family and neighbors. And we are re-thinking in creative ways how to live as the church without meeting in a central building.
I am seeing many of the ‘church’ reconnecting with their communities with hands-on help. I am sure God is smiling. He’s likely saying, “That’s what I meant by ‘I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ (Matthew 16:18).
God is building His church in this time of upheaval. There are many reasons to declare, ‘We are Blessed.”
Shalom until next time. ♥
Hear God's Heart 