Psalm 67

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah
² that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
³ May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah
⁵ May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
⁶ Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
⁷ God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

As I started studying this Psalm I really did not know where to begin. This is a simple Psalm with a simple message “may God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us”. Yet it was this simple prayer that Moses (Numbers 6:22-27) instructed Aaron and his sons to use to bless Israel. This benediction recognizes that God is the source of all good blessings in a person’s life.

Verse two presents two requests of knowledge from the writer of this Psalm to God. First that His ways may be known on the earth. The second was that his salvation might be known among all nations. The interesting issue in this verse is the focus on the whole earth, not just the nation of Israel. We have the tendency just focus on the issues around us, but in this verse the author of this Psalm makes us realized that the knowledge of God and his salvation is for the whole world.

The last two verses are the realization of the results that can come from following God’s ways. The land will yield it harvest, we will be blessed of God, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

We are living in an age of opportunities that this world has never witness. And yet we also are witnessing the destructive forces of sin that can destroy these opportunities. This psalm includes a very powerful word, and that word is MAY. God has given us the freedom to walk in his way or in the way of Satan, which is way of making self the guiding force in one’s life. Walking God’s way is difficult for man because of our sinful nature. This nature places the focus of our life on self and not God. It becomes a life about ME not Him. This psalm reflects the walk of those who make God’s way their walk. May the opportunities of life be seen as a blessing from God instead of the works of man’s great achievements.