The Practice of Blessing Prayers in Good and Bad Times (Ruth 4.14)

Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.”

Just like almost every prayer in Ruth, this is is also a blessing. It is offered by the women of the village for Naomi, now that her daughter-in-law is remarried, and will have a grandson—an that grandson will be father of David, the great king of Israel.

This blessing has a lot to help us enrich our prayers by learning to pray blessing-prayers. The women give three reasons for the blessing, they use the number seven symbolically in the prayer (an important number in the Bible, and the blessings focus on the past, the present, and the future.

Sometimes, in times of difficulty, suffering, or fear about our future, we don’t need to pray only petitions—asking for help. We an also pray blessings in time of unrest. This prayer is a good example of that—as is the entire book of Ruth.

Like the prayer-blessing of the women in this passage, you can enrich a prayer-blessing by including the reasons for the blessing. How could the words of your prayer-blessings consider the whole context: past, present, and future? You might take some time to write down such a prayer, and find a way to offer it sometime this week.

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