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by Katie Erickson

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us—so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth.
May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.
The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.
May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.” (Psalm 67)

Similar to the praise psalms we’ve been studying lately, this psalm is all about blessing. It starts out reminiscent of the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24-26:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

This priestly blessing provides three different aspects of blessing: protection, favor/grace, and peace. Just the reference to it at the beginning of this psalm would have been enough to remind the people of the whole of God’s blessings in every aspect of their lives. We see in verse 1 that God is clearly the source of all our blessings because of His grace for us. We don’t deserve to be favored or blessed by God, but that’s what His grace is all about.

What is the purpose of God blessing us? Verse 2 tells us that it’s not for our own selfish enjoyment but rather that His ways may be known on the earth. The Hebrew word used here for “known” is the most intimate type of knowing there is. It’s not just knowing that God exists, but truly knowing Him and being in a relationship with Him so He can provide us salvation. That’s what God desires for all the nations of the earth.

Verse 3 and verse 5 are identical and full of praise. When we receive blessings from God, our natural response should be to praise Him. When we receive something good from another person, we usually thank them, right? The same should be true for God, and even more so because we really don’t deserve the blessings He gives us anyway. Israel praises God for delivering them, and the expectation is that when other nations are saved as well, they too will join in praising God.

While Israel was God’s chosen nation before Jesus came to earth, that doesn’t mean God ignored the rest of the nations during that time. Verse 4 shows us that He rules all peoples with His goodness. God is still their God and rules over the universe, even if they don’t acknowledge Him as such. The prayer of this psalm is that all peoples of the earth would praise God for who He is.

Verse 6 indicates that we can see God’s blessings even in how the land yields its harvest. While today we know all the modern science behind how plants grow, the Israelites back then attributed it to the blessing of God. Even today it’s still the blessing of God that allows crops to grow to feed us. This past spring, we had significantly more rain than normal in the midwest, which delayed the corn planting pretty significantly. We don’t know yet what this may do to the economy, but many industries could be negatively affected by this - ethanol (made from corn) is in our gasoline, many livestock animals get fed with corn, etc. The ability to plant and grow food to keep humanity surviving and thriving is still related to God’s provision in our lives and for our nation.

The final verse of this psalm wraps up with reminding us of why God blesses us: “so that all the ends of the earth will fear Him.” It’s not about making us happy, though that is a nice temporal benefit of God’s blessings in our lives. It’s really all about making God known to all the people on earth, so that they will come to a saving faith in Him.

How do you respond to God’s blessings in your life? Do you remember to thank and praise Him for them? Do you use God’s blessings to share about Him to others around you? Today, consider the many ways that God has blessed you and what you’re doing in response to that.

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