God shall bless us

Wednesday, November 21, 2007; Psalm 67; Deuteronomy 4


May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
(Psalm 67:1-3)


God has blessed us so richly as a nation. I like how this Psalm orients this desire and prayer for blessing - may God bless us precisely so that his way may be known on earth, his saving power among all nations, and so that God be praised by all people (not just by us who the recipients of the requested blessing).

In Deuteronomy 4, we read of Moses calling his nation to guard their hearts and to walk in the ways of the Lord, that all peoples
"when they hear all these statutes, will say 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?"

As we give thanks to God for his blessings upon our nation, let us pray that our own nation would see in us, God's people, his blessing and saving power, and then for an outpouring of his reviving, renewing Spirit so that more and more Americans would love the Lord and walk in his ways, and that our blessing would result in the nations praising God because they see his saving power among us. This saving power may be most evidenced among us, I think, not in our worship or in our words, but in using the blessing not for ourselves but to bless those least and last, poor and powerless, the outcast, the alien, the sojourner. Such was Israel; such were we.

The earth has yielded its increase,
God, our God, shall bless us;
God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!
(v. 6-7)