May God be gracious to us and bless us
Psalm 67:1-7
and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
6 The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!
Let’s use our sanctified imaginations for a minute. The God of creation, the One who made everything, holds everything together, without whom you could not breathe a breath looks at you. You specifically and personally. My guess is that most of us would do like Adam and try to hide. We instinctively know that if he looks, we are doomed. We are just too much of a failure. In us, sin abounds. But there is a different view.
Many think the God of the Old Testament is an old meany who wants to squash us like a bug because, well just because. But there is a different view. Let’s see how he shows up in the book of Numbers. I know, it’s one of those books most people never read. But here is one reason we should.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,
Numbers 6:22-27
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
27 “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
The Lord make his face to shine upon you and, what? Be gracious to you! The Lord lift up his countenance (face) upon you and give you what? Peace! This is how God puts his name on the people of faith, the sons of Abraham. We are all sons of Abraham through faith in Christ and inheritors of this blessing of Aaron. This is really the God of the Old Testament, a God of blessing, grace, and peace to those who love him.
The Psalmist begins Psalm 67 by recalling this Aaronic blessing. It, however, gets into motive, “that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.” The favor of God’s blessing is to make his name famous in the earth among all nations. All nations are to be able to see the ways of God through the people of God who share the blessing of God received from the face of God.
Most of the rest of the Psalm is an encouragement to the peoples of the earth to rejoice, sing, and praise the God who has blessed them and who is the source of additional blessing. The purpose of the favorable face of God is intended to bless all the nations or people groups of the earth. Our God is a missionary God. He has always been a missionary God from the beginning.
