Psalm 67

¹ 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.

Here is a prayer to God asking for His blessing.  It reminds me of the Prayer of Jabez that much was made of years ago.  In 1 Chronicles 4:10, “Jabez calls upon God saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’  So God granted him what he requested.”  Here the prayer is that God would be gracious and bless us.   It is for His radiance and His Spirit to shine upon us and cover us.  What an awesome prayer.  How often do we directly ask God to bless us?  Do we not ask because we don’t feel worthy?  We are right, we aren’t.  Neither was Jabez.  Yet he asked and God granted it. 

Why do we ask for blessings?  So God’s ways and His salvation known to everyone.  Jabez said so he would not cause pain to others.  Our greatest concern should be for the spiritual condition of the world.  Do they know God’s ways and do they know His salvation?  Here the prayer is for God’s blessing and presence so that the world may know by seeing His influence upon us.

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.

May everyone everywhere praise the one and only God at all times.  May everyone everywhere rejoice and be glad.  May everyone everywhere for God’s righteous rule and for His guidance.  May everyone everywhere praise the one and only God!  … How would we respond if this actually happened?  Would we look at everyone in disbelief distrusting their motive or sincerity?  Or would we be overcome with joy and praise for our Lord?  We need to know in our heart if we truly desire for everyone everywhere to know God, be ruled by Him, guided by Him, and praising who He is.  If we don’t want this, we are against God.

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.

We proclaim how our God blesses us and we pray that He will bless us continually so everyone everywhere will know there is only one God with all authority and all power. 

Pray today for God’s blessing upon your life so that all people will come to know Him.  May we be blesses so everyone will praise His greatness.  May we be blessed so everyone will know that there is only one God, the great I AM, the author of life.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!