BROADCASTS.com

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations\u201d (Psalm 67:1-2).

Probably one of the most common Christian prayers is the request for God\u2019s blessing. Sometimes we might have the fleeting thought that such prayers are selfish. Its good to know then, that the Bible encourages us to pray this way. After all, some of the Bible\u2019s most famous words are those the priests spoke over Israel, "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26).

God told the Israelite leaders to bless His people with these words. But have you ever wondered what they mean? When we ask God to bless us, what are we really asking for? Psalm 67 gives us a glimpse into the answer.

From Psalm 13:1 and 89:46ff we learn that when God hides his face from his people it means trouble. It's a poetic image picturing the effects of sin having full licence to do their worst. When God's face is turned towards his people then the effects of the curse are held at bay, even repelled.

The odd thing is that when God turned His face away from Jesus in the darkest hour of Jesus' life, God was turning his face fully towards us. During those darkest hours that this world has ever known, in those events that led Jesus to cry out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" this same God was pouring out his blessings upon us.

It's true that when we ask God to bless us, we are often praying from selfish motives. Richard Foster tells us that all prayers begin here. But as we continue to pray, the motivations begin to change. Real prayer changes our motivations. Rather than looking fully towards our own interests we move towards Gods.

In prayer we turn our faces towards God. As we gaze upon Him our petty motivations and desires crumble away. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, we become absorbed with the great works of God.

This is where Psalm 67 leads us. God's blessings towards us serve the larger purposes of His redemptive acts in Christ. We are blessed so that others may know the great ways of God, so that they will know how great Israel's God is. God blesses us so that we can bless others.

But there is even more to it than that. The structure of the psalm suggests that verse 4 is the heart of the matter. We are blessed so that the nations will join us in glad songs of praise to our God. In the end, all nations will be gathered about the throne of God and the Lamb. To that end, God blesses us.

So, as you go off to work or school or play, consider how all the things God gives you are given as part of his purposes to redeem the world. How can you pass on the blessings God gives you? Think about it this way, God gives us buckets to collect his blessings. But the buckets are full of holes so that the blessings will flow out to other places and people. We tend to plug the holes, causing the blessings to rot in our hands.

Rather than plug the holes, let\u2019s ask for God\u2019s blessings and let them flow so that the world can sing God\u2019s praise with us.