Songs of Summer 8 – Let the Peoples Praise You

To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. > > 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. 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.

God delights to bless His people—but always so His salvation will be known and praised among every nation on earth.

A Glimpse of the Multitude

It was one of those inspiring moments. Four thousand of us, maybe more, gathered in an auditorium, musicians and singers on the stage, and the whole room with arms lifted, singing in unison with a loud voice. In that moment I couldn't help but imagine what it will one day be like, as the Scriptures describe in Revelation chapter 7—a multitude so large that no one could number it, from every tribe and nation and language, gathered before the throne of God, all of them singing a new song to the Lord.

Four thousand people pales in comparison to a multitude that cannot be numbered. Yet we've all experienced something of that large gathering—perhaps in a stadium, like these last few days at the Harvest Crusade up at Angel Stadium, where many gather with one voice, arms lifted. There is an inspiring nature to that, and it looks forward to the day revealed at the end of the Bible. I'm sure the psalmist who wrote Psalm 67 some three thousand years ago, a composer and songwriter himself, had a similar picture in view.

"God, Bless Us": The Aaronic Blessing

The psalm opens, "God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us. Selah." That little word Selah is a musical pause—for us, a meditative pause. And as we pause, the original reader three thousand years ago would have immediately recognized the connection to another passage, one I share almost every week as a benediction.

It comes from Numbers chapter 6, what is called the Aaronic blessing. God told Moses to instruct Aaron the priest how to bless the worshipers of Israel: "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... and I will bless them." This was the priestly blessing pronounced over the people of God.

Now, hundreds of years later, the psalmist has this blessing in mind—but notice he changes it. What the priests pronounced over the people ("The LORD bless you"), the psalmist prays for himself and his people ("God bless us"). The Hebrew word translated "merciful" in verse 1 is the same word translated "gracious" in Numbers 6. It is equally right to say "God be merciful to us" or "God be gracious to us."

Should We Pray for Our Own Blessing?

That sounds like an audacious prayer. I was talking with a brother in the church recently who said he finds it easier to pray for others than for himself, because praying for himself feels selfish. Have you been there? I tried to encourage him: Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, so it is legitimate to pray for ourselves.

There is, of course, an out-of-balance way—when all we ever do is pray for ourselves, as if going through the In-N-Out drive-thru: "I'll have this, and this, animal style." That is self-focused and surely wrong. But to never pray for yourself, on the other end of the spectrum, because you feel it's selfish or arrogant, is also not correct. We're accustomed to saying "God bless you" when someone sneezes, but somehow we feel weird saying "God, bless me." Imagine praying that in a corporate setting—people would look at you sideways. Yet the psalmist felt no discomfort at all: "God be gracious to us and bless us."

Point one: God's people should seek and expect God's blessing. And the question follows immediately—are you seeking, by prayer, by obedience, by your way of life, and expecting God's blessing?

Not the Prosperity Gospel—but Not an Over-Reaction Either

Many people in churches like ours struggle with that statement, and I think one major reason is a reaction to what's called the prosperity gospel or prosperity theology, which in many ways originated in our nation. A small segment of the church takes the promises of the Bible out of context and applies them improperly, and many of us rightly have an aversion to that.

But equally unfortunate is that, in reaction, many believers can no longer accept a true idea like "God's people should seek and expect God's blessing." We develop an aversion to it. The psalmist did not. He openly prays, including himself, "God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause Your face to shine upon us."

The Blessing Traced Back to Abraham

This priestly blessing did not originate in Numbers 6. It started hundreds of years earlier, in Genesis chapter 12, where God calls Abram to follow Him: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you." That's risky—he was seventy-five, settled, comfortable. Why would he go? Because of the next verse: "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

So hundreds of years before Aaron's sons were commanded to bless the people, God spoke to their father Abraham: "Follow Me, and I will bless you." For centuries many have interpreted this blessing as being for Abraham and his descendants only. But Genesis 12, and the way the psalmist proclaims it in Psalm 67, shows the blessing has a much wider scope than just Abraham and his descendants—and that is crucial for us to grasp.

So That—The Motive Behind the Prayer

Verse 2 gives us the result: "That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations." Circle that little word "that"—in the NIV and HCSB it reads "so that." Those words are super important, because they identify the motive behind this audacious prayer. "God, bless us so that Your way will be known in all the earth, Your salvation among all nations." The motivation is the glory of God among the nations—that all people would see and know the fame and glory of God.

Point two: God's blessing is for all peoples. We are blessed to be a blessing. That was true thousands of years ago: Abraham was blessed by God for the purpose of being a blessing. "I will bless you... and you shall be a blessing... and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Three Tragic Outcomes of Being Blessed

If you are a recipient of God's blessing, you are blessed to be a blessing. But there are three tragic outcomes of being blessed—write these down: number one, to think you deserve it; number two, to think it is exclusive to you; number three, to hoard it.

First, to think you deserve it. Notice that in Psalm 67:1 the grace of God comes before the blessing. The further blessings of God are accessible only by His grace, never by your works. From Genesis to Revelation it is clear: God's favor comes not by merit but as unmerited, undeserved favor. If you're a Christian, you received salvation and its benefits not because you're a good person, but because God gave it by grace. And if you're not yet a Christian—we're so glad you're here—don't think you must do A, B, C, D, E, and F first. "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8–9).

God's Word to Israel: Not Because You Deserve It

Our sinful, fallen default is to think we deserve it and that it's ours alone. God made sure Israel knew otherwise. As they prepared to enter the Promised Land, Moses gave the long message we call Deuteronomy. In chapter 7 God essentially says, "I'm giving you this great land flowing with milk and honey—but don't think I'm giving it because you're something great. I'm giving it because I love you." Unmerited, undeserved favor.

Yet fast-forward almost twenty-five hundred years to the time of Jesus, and many in Israel had concluded, "This is ours only; it's not for others." Some of the things that made them angriest were when Jesus said to Gentiles, "I have not found such great faith in all of Israel as I found in you." They wanted to kill Him for it. "How dare you—it's our blessing." That was never God's intent.

And it wasn't only the Jewish people. Many Christians fall into the same wrong conclusion. It shows up as "this is the only right church," or "you're not saved unless you're baptized this way," or "only we and those like us are the elect, and the rest are reprobate." We always drift toward exclusivity and hoarding. But God is not like that. He said to His disciples, "Freely you have received, freely give." We are to be conduits of this blessing—we don't deserve it, it isn't exclusive to us, and so we cannot hoard it.

Blessing That Produces Worship

Point three: God's blessing should result in worship. If you are a recipient of God's blessing, it should stir praise in your heart. We sing the doxology, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." But the blessing should produce worship not only in us; it should extend worship globally. "Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You." Circle "all"—a small word of great importance, again pointing to inclusion, not exclusion.

The psalmist understood that God's blessing upon Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve tribes, and the nation of Israel was for the purpose of global praise and the glory of God—that all nations would ultimately worship the One who gives the blessing. Any reading of the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12 that makes it exclusively for Abraham and his descendants is a wrong reading. It is for the glory of God among all nations, both then and today.

Blessing for Global Joy and Gladness

The next result, in verse 4: "Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!" Point four: God's blessing is for global joy and gladness.

But what exactly is this blessing? Look again at the whole flow. God blessed Abraham (Genesis 12), then the worshiping nation through the priests (Numbers 6), so that through them the blessing would come to all nations. What is that blessing? It is the way and the salvation. And who is that blessing? Jesus. The blessing to come through Abraham's descendants to all nations is not the nation of Israel—it is the Messiah.

Point five: God's blessing is Jesus. "That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations." The name Jesus means "Jehovah is salvation." A thousand years before Jesus came, the psalmist says the purpose of God's blessing is that the way (Jesus) and the salvation (Jesus) would be known to all nations. How many non-Jewish people are here today? Look around—this prayer is being fulfilled, because the great majority of us are not Jewish. If you read Genesis 12:1–3 and miss Jesus, you've missed the point. God blessed Abraham and his descendants to bless the world with Jesus.

Working for the Joy of All Peoples

How does Jesus bring global joy and gladness? First, by ushering in the gospel, which is good news of great joy for all nations. God became a man—the Incarnation—lived a sinless life, died a brutal death, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. He is the decisive fulfillment of this prayer of blessing in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, and He will finish fulfilling it at His second coming.

So if you follow Jesus, the purpose of your life is to experience, express, and extend joy and gladness in the world. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, "I am a worker together for your joy"—that was his task as a pastor. Your job as a Christian is to make people glad in Jesus. The primary way is by giving forth the good news that brings great joy. Secondary ways follow: bringing fresh, clean water to those who lack it, fighting malaria and HIV, addressing social injustice around the world. Those are good things the church should give to, because they increase the gladness of the nations. But the primary thing is the declaration of the gospel, which is good news producing great joy.

Looking Forward to His Righteous Reign

The world is experiencing a significant lack of gladness, and we, God's people, are to extend gladness through the gospel to all nations—in your workplace, on the construction site, on your campus, wherever God carries you.

Then the psalmist turns prophetically to the future: "For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth." There is coming a day when Jesus shall rule and reign with righteous judgment. We live in a great nation with one of the best justice systems in the world, yet we all recognize that even the greatest justice systems can be unjust. So we look forward to the day He rules and reigns in righteousness over all nations, not just one. This is pictured in Isaiah 11:1–10, written seven hundred years before Jesus came: the Son of David "with righteousness... shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth." The psalmist sings with joy as he looks forward to that day.

Missions Exists Because Worship Doesn't

In verse 5 the psalmist returns to the chorus: "Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You." At that same conference in 2011, a pastor who wrote a book titled Let the Nations Be Glad—based on this very passage—stood and spoke on Psalm 67. He opens that book with these words: "Missions exists because worship doesn't." What is the purpose of the church's endeavor to spread the gospel to all peoples? The purpose is the global praise of God.

Point six: God's people should seek to experience and extend God's blessing—until when? Until all the peoples praise 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."

The Task Is Unfinished

We who follow Jesus should be committed to experiencing and extending God's blessing through the gospel and through whatever endeavor increases joy and gladness—with our time, energy, talents, money, everything we have. You may never go to a foreign country, and that's okay, because your task is right here. People in Burma or India need joy increased, and so do people in San Marcos and San Diego County. It doesn't come through a new Chargers stadium—I hate to break it to you—it comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Many Christians look at the Old Testament only for what it says about future events. I know two things for certain about future things: number one, Jesus will come back; number two, He hasn't come back yet—which means the task is not done. There are more than six thousand distinct ethnic groups who still do not know, hear, or have the gospel. There are a lot of unhappy people, and we are called to be conduits of blessing for all nations.

Closing Prayer

Father, we ask that You would stir our hearts to be conduits of blessing for all nations—that we would not be those who think we deserve the blessing of salvation, or that it is exclusively for this church, or that we would hoard it. Lord, we pray the good news of the gospel would go out from this church and other churches in our area, so that the 3.2 million people here in San Diego County—more than ninety percent of them not part of an evangelical, Bible-teaching church—would know the gladness of the good news of the gospel.

Lord, cause this church to grow for Your glory and Your praise. Cause Emmanuel Faith, Mission Hills, Northcoast Church, Maranatha Chapel, and all the other churches in our area committed to preaching the good news to grow for Your glory. May we see people continue to go to the unreached, for Your name's sake and for the joy of all peoples. God, enable us to be that conduit of blessing this week, even in some small way—in an office building here in San Diego or at a school campus here in Escondido. Help us to be conduits for Your blessing. In Jesus' name, amen.