Originally posted: 10/30/2020

God be gracious to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us, (67:1).

When we ask God to cause His face to shine upon us, we are asking that He look upon us with favor; that He would look upon us to give us not what we deserve, but by His grace, give us gifts we have not earned; that He would look upon us to guide us, protect us, and provide for us; in other words, that He would look upon us with intentions for our good, with intentions to Graciously Bless us.

And because all are the unworthy recipients of His Gracious Blessings, the voice of the psalmist sends out a call: shout with joy; sing of His glory; declare His awesome and powerful works; worship and praise Him, for He has blessed us, who are so unworthy, with His Gracious Blessings.

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;
² Sing the glory of His name;
Make His praise glorious.
³ Say to God, “How awesome are Your works!
Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will pretend to obey You.
⁴ All the earth will worship You,
And will sing praises to You;
They will sing praises to Your name.” (66:1-4).

Consider His Gracious Blessings

• His Gracious Blessings… seen in His awesome deeds toward all of mankind.
  • Come and see the works of God,
    Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of mankind, (66:5).

• His Gracious Blessings… turning our seas into dry land.
  • He turned the sea into dry land;
    They passed through the river on foot;
    Let’s rejoice there, in Him! (66:6).
    

• His Gracious Blessings… keeping us sure-footed.
  • Who keeps us in life,
    And does not allow our feet to slip, (66:9).
    

• His Gracious Blessings… refining us in our trials.
  • For You have put us to the test, God;
    You have refined us as silver is refined.
    ¹¹ You brought us into the net;
    You laid an oppressive burden upon us, (66:10-11).
    

• His Gracious Blessings… bringing us into a place of abundance.
  • You made men ride over our heads;
    We went through fire and through water.
    Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance, (66:12).

• His Gracious Blessings… accepting our prayers and granting us His favor
  • Blessed be God,
    Who has not turned away my prayer
    Nor His favor from me, (66:20).
    

How do we respond to His Gracious Blessings?

God be gracious to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us, (67:1).

God desires everyone to desire Him and receive His Gracious Blessings. But He will not force Himself upon anyone, for that would violate our free will. So He waits for us to desire and long for Him.

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him, (Isaiah 30:18).

And it is to this place the psalmist calls us; to a place of humility, dependence, faith and trust that would turn our hearts and minds to seek His Gracious Blessings. But we must never forget, it is not just so we can be blessed.

That Your way may be known on the earth,
Your salvation among all nations, (67:2).

When we have been so privileged and blessed to partake of His Gracious Blessings, we will be changed; we will want to sing His praises; and we will want others to hear, that they too might bow in faith to receive His Gracious Blessings.

God blesses us,
So that all the ends of the earth may fear Him, (67:7).

Oh, may we be intentional to bless our God as we sing His praises, that others would hear of His Gracious Blessings.

Bless our God, you peoples,
And sound His praise abroad, (66:8).

And may we witness with an unquenchable desire for others to also know Him; inviting others to hear of all He has done for us and all His Gracious Blessings He has so Graciously bestowed.

Come and hear, all who fear God,
And I will tell of what He has done for my soul, (66:16).

Let us ask the Lord to grow our desire for His Gracious Blessings, not so that we can indulge in His Blessings in self-gratification, but that we would share with others that they too might see and come to a saving knowledge of His Gracious Blessings in Jesus Christ.

The earth has yielded its produce;
God, our God, blesses us.
⁷ God blesses us,
So that all the ends of the earth may fear Him, (67:6-7).

May our lives be a testament of His Gracious Blessings, ever mindful of what we have undeservedly received in Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (Ephesians 1:3).

For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast, (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Oh, may we never get over His Gracious Blessings granted to us in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Let us live in confident faith in His awesome work of salvation; knowing that while we wait for His appearing, He will turn our seas into dry land, keep us sure-footed, refine us in every trial, bring us to His place of abundance, and hear our prayers to continue to grant us His favor.

And may we live each day with overflowing thanksgiving as we trust Him to continue to be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, until we stand before His Presence to receive the most glorious of His Gracious Blessings, to live in His Presence for all of eternity.

Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen, (Jude 1:24).

Let’s Grow Together!