“God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.” Psalms 67:1-3 NKJV
Reflection: is it wrong to ask God for His favor and blessings?
A common prayer for God’s people is to ask for His favor, His blessings, in various ways. We all want our relationships to be healthy, our families to expand, our work and business to thrive, and we seek the Lord for his guidance through life. You might recall that a “blessing” refers to a number of things, such as praise, gift or present, or peace. So, we can probably summarize to say that when we are blessed, we prosper in life. In the first part of Psalm 67 is an example of such a prayer, ““God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah Psalm 67:1 NKJV. We can therefore come to Him with confidence asking for His mercy (loving kindness), His blessings and guidance (His face shine upon us).
But for what purpose?
Why do we ask for His mercy, blessings and guidance? Obviously we all like things to go well for us, and for our families. We want to prosper, to grow as a family, to have peace and even wealth. And God wants us to have all those things. But it doesn’t stop there. There is a purpose for the blessings, as we read on. Notice what comes next. The purpose is so
“That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations,” Psalm 67:2 NKJV.
So that the nations across the earth may know God; know His ways and His salvation. The people of Israel sang this Psalm 67, asking God to bless them, for a purpose, not for self indulgence, not to hoard God’s favor and wealth. But to share the goodness of God and His ways with the nations across the earth. To lead others to Him so that they also will praise Him. Let’s read the rest of this short, but beautiful Psalm, this prayer, showing the heart of God’s people, “Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth. Selah Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.” Psalms 67:4-7 NKJV
In the new covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ, all who have received Christ and believe in His name, have been born again of God (John 1:12-13), and are therefore God’s people. And we have to ask ourselves whether we have the same heart for the nations, asking for God’s blessings so that God’s “way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.” Psalms 67:2 NKJV as the Israelites did back then, so that all “the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.” Psalms 67:3 NKJV
It is scriptural and good for us to ask God for His mercy, His blessings, His guidance in our lives. Jesus said, ““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”Matthew 7:7-12 NKJV. And Psalms 67 teaches us to let our requests not be for selfish reasons, but so that others can get to know Him, to marvel at His mighty works, the beauty of His ways and salvation. So that they too can worship and praise Him.
Let that be the heart of all of God’s people.