Noah blesses Shem: 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem.' Unusually, the blessing on Shem is a blessing on his God, not on Shem directly — which makes it more profound, not less. To say 'blessed be the God of Shem' is to say that Shem's life will be the evidence of God's blessing and the occasion for God's glory. It is a theological identity statement: Shem's greatness will be inseparable from the greatness of his God. Luke 3:36 traces Jesus' genealogy through Shem — the line of the promised seed runs through the son who walked backward to cover his father's nakedness. Abraham descends from Shem (Genesis 11:26), and through Abraham, all nations will be blessed. The application: the highest possible blessing on a person's life is not that they themselves would be great, but that the greatness of God would be displayed through them. Is that the ambition you are living with? 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of [your name].'

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