Blessed is the man…[whose] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1a, 2
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.
Psalm 67:1-2
I was sitting in Kevin’s Place about to tear into some pumpkin oatmeal pancakes with my brother in Christ this morning when our conversation turned to blessing. In the context of Psalm 67, my friend asked what it meant for God to bless us. Was God’s blessing in the Old Testament different than in the New? Is the blessing that we experience today different than what they experienced? How does our society influence our opinion of blessing?
The good news is that there is no shadow or variation due to change with God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. With that said, we can conclude that God’s method of blessing has remained the same as well. Perhaps now that we are looking back on the Cross, blessing is more visible rather than veiled, but that does not make the manner of blessing different.
So how does God bless His people? Is blessing only seen in material wealth and prosperity as some would argue? Can we measure our blessing based on how great our job is compared to our neighbor? Or how big a family we have? If we have more “toys” like boats and computers and iPads and work out equipment, are we more blessed?
I’m not saying that any of these scenarios are bad in and of themselves, but I do not believe that these things speak of primary blessings as outlined in Scripture.
Consider Psalm 1 for a moment. Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. How is that man blessed? There is no connection made to material possessions or a happy family life or many friends. Rather, verse 3 goes on to compare this man to a tree that is planted near streams of water that bears good fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in everything that he does.
The tree’s roots grow deep because it is planted near streams, count them, plural streams of water. God’s law is that water that sustains the life of man. God’s Word is the water that nourishes the man to bear good fruit and His Spirit is the producer of that fruit. He does not lose strength or wither because he is abiding in God and His nourishing Word. He prospers, not necessarily materially, though possibly materially, but he prospers in areas of true abundance and true riches.
He receives the blessing of tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. He is blessed through trials knowing that the testing of his faith produces steadfastness and leads to maturity. He is blessed through suffering knowing that Christ also suffered and died in his place and that he has the privilege of following in the footsteps of his Lord and Savior. He is blessed in relationships knowing that God has put him in the lives of others to build them up and to point them to the Good News of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. He is blessed when things don’t work out according to plan because he knows a God who is forever faithful and promises to be his Shepherd. Delighting in God’s Word produces these types of blessings again and again in ever-increasing measure. We would all do well to desire to be like this man.
As my friend said this morning, “We need to leave the definition of blessing up to God.” Those are wise words from a man who knows how difficult it is to faithfully thank God through years of questions and trust that He will remain true to His Word no matter how dire the situation may seem. I am confident that in every situation, trial, tragedy, and experience we will be able to someday look back and marvel at God’s faithfulness. How much greater would our joy be if we embraced the grace of trials as they happened?!
It’s this last question that brings me to Psalm 67.
I want to pause for a moment to say how thankful I am to be a member of CrossWay Community Church where the Word of God is faithfully preached and connections like the one I am about to make are taught with clarity and conviction.
The psalmist prays. He prays for God to be gracious, to bless them, and to make His face shine upon His people. But he doesn’t stop there. His vision is much larger than simply receiving blessing. He asks for blessing so that the nations might know the saving power of God!
Looking in the Old Testament, we can see in Genesis 12 that God makes a covenant with Abraham to bless all nations through his offspring. The nation of Israel results from God’s promise to give Abraham a son. Time and time again, God promises that the nations of the world will know Him because of His steadfast love toward Israel. At times Israel is blessed with prosperity so that nations may marvel at their God. At times they are blessed with famine found in stories like that of Joseph (Genesis 43-46) and Elimelech and Naomi (Ruth 1). I encourage you to study these passages to see for yourself the salvation that results for God’s people through severe famine.
In any and all cases, the people who prospered and experienced God’s blessing were the ones that saw God’s sovereign hand upholding them through abundance and want.
God blesses His people so that His name will be glorified to the ends of the earth. God sent Jesus in an unparalleled act of love and grace. God continues to bless His people so that the nations be glad and sing for joy at His amazing grace.
And God is blessing each of us who are in Christ right now. Some of us are being blessed through trials of loneliness or cancer or financial strain. In each case, God wants us to experience the blessing of drawing nearer to Him in relationship made possible only in Christ Jesus. Some of us are being blessed with an abundance of money or time. God intends for us to be blessed as we give generously to others who are suffering want. As we pour ourselves out, we experience the joy of Christ who gave all of Himself for us.
And God is blessing us so that others might know the name of Jesus Christ. Having the perfect life is not the means God uses to make Jesus known to our friends and family. Struggling to be faithful in the midst of trial because we have a sure and steadfast Anchor in Jesus Christ is a testimony far more useful and powerful than a big investment portfolio. Mourning well the loss of a child can be a blessing when unbelievers look on with amazement and glimpse the face of God when joy and hope swallow up the real and significant loss experienced by the family.
Each and every experience we have can be counted as a blessing designed by God to make His glory known. We can be sure, as God’s chosen people in Christ, that God is blessing us, because He delights in doing just that for His children. And we can be sure that God desires the blessing we receive to showcase His immeasurable grace in Christ Jesus extended to rebellious sinners.
We have the tall order of counting it all joy. But what encouragement it is to know that God is with us and for us! He will use us to accomplish His purposes even though we hold this treasure in jars of clay. What mercy!
Let the nations be glad and rejoice in the awesome saving power of God in Christ Jesus!
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
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