WEDNESDAY 4th
Psalm 67
NIV (vv1-2) – ‘May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us— so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.’
The opening verses of this psalm take my mind back to Numbers 6:22-27 where the LORD spoke to Moses, telling him to speak to Aaron with what we call the Aaronic blessing. ‘“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”’
In this psalm the author is invoking the same blessing upon the people of God. The reason being that as God blesses his people it will become a testimony to those all around them, in fact as verse 2 says ‘that your way may be known on earth’ that is everywhere! The response being as we see in verse 7 ‘let all the ends of the earth fear him!’
There is something powerful in this blessing, it invokes God’s favour upon his people, it invokes his protection and his peace. We can so easily think that God’s blessing is automatic, but just as we personally need to be in a place of right relationship with God to know his blessing, so also with a nation, for we are reminded in Proverbs 14:34 that ‘righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’ again we know that in the life of Israel as a nation the plea went to them from God himself, ‘. . . if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’ 2 Chronicles 7:14
We who are the people of God need to position ourselves in the place where we can intercede on behalf of our nation, that it would humble itself, turn from its sin so that God will hear from heaven, forgive the sin, and heal the land.
We need the Church to rise like a powerful and prayerful army, seeking God that he will come and visit us again, that we as a nation will be positioned in a place where we can rightfully and righteously pray the same prayer as this psalm contains, ‘May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.’
In the words of Hosea, the prophet to Ephraim, ‘Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.’ (Hosea 10:12)