June 22, 2023
Scripture: Psalm 67: May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine on us—
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
What it means
This is a rich Psalm – verse 1 comes from another OT scripture passage written by Moses in Numbers 6:24-26…yet another example of OT scripture coming to fruition in a future scriptural text. We could spend a lot of time looking at this entire Psalm, but let’s focus on verse 1 to begin with.
I found this commentary that pertains to this chapter: “All our happiness comes from God's mercy; therefore the first thing prayed for is, God be merciful to us, to us sinners, and pardon our sins. Pardon is conveyed by God's blessing and secured in that. If we, by faith, walk with God, we may hope that his face will shine on us.”
That’s quite a thought by itself, isn’t it – having God make His face shine upon us? It seems like pretty much everything else would pale in comparison to being able to secure that. What do you suppose would be accomplished in having that happen? “That your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among the nations.” And yes, much praise and joy and singing directed to the Throne of Heaven!
What it means
We talk a lot about being intentional in directing praise and glory to God…as we should. That should be a natural extension for us in all we say and all we do, so we probably better keep making that a priority. You see, people are watching us – the fields are ripe for the harvest, or “the land yields its harvest” – so let’s continue to be different than the rest of the world, in a good way. Let’s praise The Lord with everything that’s in us – and “God will bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear Him.”
Love you, see you Sunday!
In Christ,
Brian