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Daily Devotion: Psalm 67:1-3

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Psalm 67:1-3    "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.  (2)  That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.  (3)  Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee."

As you read verse one, can you say in your heart and mind that God has indeed blessed you? Has He been merciful to you? Have you experienced the blessing of Christ Jesus shining into your heart the truth of God's love bestowed upon you? Can you exclaim with John, the Beloved, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." (1 John 3:1) We find another "Selah" in this passage.  It requires some time for us to stop, look, listen, and think upon the great blessing of God's grace; yet, it is so very much worth the time and effort spent.

Why is it important for us to meditate upon these things?  First, I think it is important that we remain humble before God and we constantly remind ourselves of God's favour upon us. If we do not spend time in these thoughts, we might be tempted to exalt ourselves and think we have actually accomplished something on our own ability and knowledge. The twofold blessing of these truths remind us that we can do nothing without Jesus. "Selah."  Do you believe that to be true? I realize it does nothing for our egos, but it is the absolute truth. Without Jesus, I am nothing. But the mercy of God then affirms another beautiful truth into our hearts. Without Jesus, I can do nothing (John 15:5), but the opposite of that is also true. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13) "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause His face to shine  upon us."

Secondly, it is important that we meditate upon these things because we have been appointed ambassadors for Christ.  As an ambassador, what is our message that we are to proclaim, or let it be made known upon the earth? We are to boldly proclaim "... that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself."  We have the message of God's grace to speak to those we come into contact with. Let me first say this, we are not responsible as to how they receive the message. We cannot cause anyone to become a child of God. That is solely the work of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  But we have the message that brings light to the wandering soul who is seeking for truth and as ambassadors, we are sent to declare the blessed truth of redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ.

We go with the truth of God's grace and mercy and prayer on our hearts, Lord, "be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause thy face to shine upon us ... that thy way may be known upon the earth."

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