The #1 Reason to Pray for God’s Blessing (Thoughts on Psalm 67)

Why do we ask God to bless us? Have you ever thought about that?

Psalm 67 provides a wonderful answer to that question.

Verse 1 begins the Psalm with a prayer: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us.”

What a great petition! Wondering what to pray for today? Here’s a great place to start. Ask God to provide his grace, his blessing, and his face to shine upon you.

If God demonstrates his love for you through these three realities, would you be content in any situation? Should God answer this prayer, do you think you would have a heart filled with joy and gladness? I would think so!

As we continue reading the psalm, verse 2 says, “so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation [may be known] among all nations.” The first two words of this verse are the key that unlocks the meaning of the whole psalm. The psalmist asks God to graciously bless his people so that all nations on earth would know the ways and salvation of God.

Do you see the significance of this prayer? Verse 1, at first glance, and when viewed by itself, seems to be primarily about God’s people and their desire to receive the blessings of God’s goodness. And there is certainly some truth to that assessment.

But the psalmist didn’t stop there. He also included the purpose of this prayer. He is asking God to bless his people for a specific reason: in order that they can be the channel through which God blesses the rest of the world. We are the recipients of God’s grace in order to communicate the beauty of that grace to all nations.

What we have here is an evangelistic prayer for the salvation of all peoples. The rest of the psalm continues this theme.

³May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.
⁴May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples with equity
and guide the nations of the earth.
⁵May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you.

Note the repetition of the words “peoples” and “nations.” This Hebrew poet is concerned about the spiritual condition of Gentiles all over the world. He is pleading with God to make his presence known to the Jews so that pagan peoples from every land will worship God with joy and gladness!

Psalm 67 is nothing less than an Old Testament version, in sacred song, of the New Testament “Great Commission” delivered by Jesus to his followers before ascending to heaven:

“Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).
“Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations” (Luke 24:27).
“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8)

This is the reason that God spoke to Abraham, an idol worshipping pagan, and led him from Ur of the Chaldees to the promised land of Canaan. Joshua quotes these words from the Lord himself: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods’” (Joshua 24:2).

God spoke to Abraham and told him,

¹ “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

²“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
³I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

The Lord of heaven and earth promised to bless Abraham and his offspring, the nation of Israel, so that all nations on earth would be blessed through God’s channel of blessing, the Jews.

Ultimately, this promise of blessing through Abraham was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, for “He (Christ) redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit” (Galatians 3:14).

Psalm 67, written hundreds of years after God’s promise to Abraham to bless all nations through his seed, continues the theme of God’s love for the whole world. God has always had a plan to make known his ways of salvation to all peoples. And he chose the Jewish nation to be the human means by which this message of redemption would be brought to fruition. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). We see that in Psalm 67 from start to finish, for verses 6 and 7 repeat the wonderful truth that God blesses us so that he can bless the world through us:

⁶The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.
⁷May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

May it be so today!

Questions for Further Study, Reflection, and Discussion

Reflect on the meaning of the three requests found in the prayer of verse 1:
1) God’s grace;
2) God’s blessing;
3) God’s shining face.
How have you experienced each of these spiritual realities recently? Offer a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for these gifts from God.
Specifically, how would you like God to answer the 3-fold prayer of Psalm 67:1 today? For yourself? For your local church?
What is your response to the truth that God blesses you and your local church so that you can be a channel of blessing to others? Specifically, how can your answer to Question 2 be turned into a prayer for God to bless those in your community and throughout the world who do not know God’s salvation?
From Psalm 67, what new insights did you learn about God and His purposes for us?

NOTE: The above is excerpt from my forthcoming book, How to Pray Like David: A Bible Study on Psalms 42-72 (Psalms Bible Study Guides, Volume 2)

Volume 1 of this series is available on Amazon: How to Pray Like David: A Bible Study on Psalms 1-41 (Psalms Bible Study Guides, Volume 1)