Saturday, March 22, 2014

Psalm 67: The Lord Will Bless His People


A song of worship to God
    1     God be gracious to us and  bless us,
And  cause Your face to shine upon us—     Selah

     2     That Your way may be known on the earth,
 Your salvation 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 will  judge the peoples with uprightness
And guide the nations on the earth.          Selah

     5     Let the  peoples praise You, O God—
Let all the peoples praise You.
     6     The earth has yielded its produce;
God, our God,  blesses us.
     7     God blesses us — that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

I've never met anyone who has answered “no” to the question, “Do you want God’s blessing on your life?”

Why Seek God’s blessing?   We want to be happy!  We want to enjoy life!  We want things to go well with us and our children!   But without adding something more, those are not adequate reasons why we should ask for God’s blessing.  We should seek God’s blessing so that our gladness in God will spread— 
The psalmist is saying “to all the nations.” 

This is an important psalm.  It is read in many worship services to reflect the blessing that The Lord God  pronounces on His people, “The Lord bless you, and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.”

Also this psalm is rooted in God’s covenant promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:2-3), “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

Psalm 67 is also the Old Testament expression of Jesus’ instruction to us in Matthew 6:10, that we are to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  We should seek God’s blessing so that our gladness in God will spread to others… and to all the nations!

 Many churches today make it a point to be engaged in world missions. The goal of missions is the gladness of the people in the greatness of God—in service to God through Jesus Christ, we spread the Good News of the gospel to all nations.  In the words of Jesus, He puts the “Great Commission” of every believer in these words: 
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying,
 “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”   Matthew 28:171-20. 

1. We should seek God’s blessing.

While we all will quickly say that we want God’s blessing, it is not automatic. We must diligently seek it.  The Bible is abundantly clear that God is ready to pour out His blessing on His people, but only when we order our lives rightly before Him and seek God Himself as the supreme blessing. WE WILL EXPERIENCE GOD’S BLESSING WHEN WE ALIGN OURSELVES WITH HIS PURPOSES... for the nations.

2. When we have God’s blessing, we will be glad in Him.

True gladness and joy is found in God. Gladness in stuff is futile, because stuff can be taken from you in an instant (Matt. 6:19). But gladness in God is eternal; it cannot be taken from you. The prayer of this psalm is all about praise and gladness and singing for joy in the Lord. 

3. When we are glad in God, we will want to spread that gladness to others.

The psalm begins with the prayer that God will be gracious to us and bless us so that others [and the nations] might know His salvation, so that they will praise Him and be glad in Him. The psalm ends with the same prayer, “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”  Praise by its nature begs to be expressed and shared.

“God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him.” Israel’s material blessings translated into spiritual blessings on the nations. When God blesses us materially, it’s not so that we can squander it on selfish living. We should use God’s material blessings to bless others by sending and supporting those that take the message of His salvation to those who have yet to hear. To invest in the gospel for the nations is to invest in eternal joy for them and for yourself...
Glorify God by spreading your joy in Him to all the earth.



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