I grew up in a faith tradition that often equated God’s blessing with material wealth. If a person was rich and well-regarded, they were blessed. And those people who lacked wealth or status? Well, they were just there. Not forsaken, by any means, but they were people…waiting for a blessing.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to question that way of understanding what it means to be blessed. What if God’s blessing isn’t tied quite so neatly to money?
I’ve heard this passage used as evidence that God’s blessing means success and growth and more—more land, more wealth, more status. But the word “blessed” appears only once at the beginning. The rest of the text provides the terms of a covenant—or agreement—between Noah and God that describes how Noah and his family will live. I now read this text as a reminder that there is a beautiful reciprocity in our relationship with God. God gives us everything, but that doesn’t mean we get to take and take. God’s blessings call us back into right relationship.
Generous God, transform the ways that we understand what it means to be blessed. Amen. —