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a sense, he is their shepherd. On one occasion this Rabbi was asked by his students, “Is there a blessing for the czar?” The czar, Russia’s reigning monarch, could be oppressive in the way that he chose to govern his countrymen. The Rabbi answered his students in the following way, “A blessing for the czar? Of course there is a blessing for the czar.” Next the Rabbi pronounced this blessing, “Lord, keep the czar . . .” The Rabbi paused and then continued, “. . . as far away from us as possible.” The students laughed. But is that a blessing, or a prayer request for them to be blessed rather than for the sake of the czar?

      The nature of a blessing is to help people, and not to hurt them or to harm them or to drive them away.

      The Hope of the Blessing

      An old saying is, “Hope springs eternal.” This is one of the great blessings we have from God—Hope! Our hope is that God “will” bless us. A biblical understanding of hope is the belief of a future certainty, that something good will absolutely happen. For the person who believes in God’s love, hope is not a possibility or a probability. Hope is a reality! Hope may not have yet been realized or received, but it definitely will happen. Because of this assurance, we can always have hope in life. Even if we lose loved ones to some horrifying disaster as Job did; even if our lives seem to be crumbling all around us; even if our spouse walks out on us or our sons turn to drugs, or our daughters turn to prostitution, by faith in God’s blessing, we can still have hope in God.