Numbers 6:24-26 and Psalm 67:1-2 -- Blessed to Bless

Sometime last week, during my daily devotions I read Psalm 67. The first two verses immediately struck me as reminiscent of the priestly blessing in Num. 6, which I quote over my boys most every morning.

1 God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us-- Selah.
2 That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.

What struck me about this text is that it explains the purpose of God's blessing: so that His "way" and "salvation" may be known throughout the world. In other words, this is a missionary blessing.

It's not about me and my kids getting and getting, but about God blessing us so that we may be a blessing to the world! What a great text!

So, I printed it up and put it on the fridge. For the last week, we've been saying it together as a family after I say the Num. 6:24-26 blessing. My goal is that all of us will have these two verses memorized so that when I pronounce the blessing, the family responds with this prayer that God will make us channels through which His name is known to the world around us.

I can envision a future time when we will explore as a family the meaning of God's "way," what it means to "know" God's way as well as His salvation, and how all this relates to praying for God to bless us so we can be a blessing.