Study Chapter · III

We Should Love God Whether He Blesses Us or Not

The transactional gospel — "obey and be blessed" — is the loudest false teaching in American Christianity, and the Bible has been answering it for 3,000 years.

The crucial word is blessed — bārak (ברך). Job blesses God while losing everything. The sentence structure is: gave, took, blessed. Not "blessed me, then I'll bless Him."

The Hebrew is famously ambiguous (the Ketib/Qere variant), but the surface reading is shocking: my trust in Him does not depend on whether He spares me.

The covenant is not "you bless me, I praise you." The covenant is "you are God, I worship you." Worship that depends on outcomes is idolatry of outcomes.

Nearby chapters

II. Why Does God Allow Evil?

IV. "Pray Without Ceasing"

and Why the Greek Tense Changes Everything

I. "The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail"

and We've Been Reading It Backwards

V. Greek and Hebrew Words That Change Everything