The Heart's Cry: Psalm 67

Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face to shine upon us,
that your way may be known upon earth,
    your saving power among all nations.

"Thank you and may God Bless America."

That is how most presidential addresses end, but I wonder how often there is an internal "so that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations", if I had to guess not often or more likely not at all. This is not a comment against our current president nor our past presidents nor our future president, what it is, is a comment against all those who say God bless America and don't really care about spreading God's way upon the earth, or at the very least that hope is buried under so many layers as to be nonexistent. I fear that when most people say God bless America we don't really care if God blesses any other nation or people, as long as God blesses us. And if you remember that is not the way it works.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in the past 66 posts or not, but I have mentioned it often enough in other settings that you may have heard what I'm about to say. And what I'm about to say is that if you remember way back when God told Abraham that God would bless him and through him that the whole world would be blessed. You see, that's the way it works we are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. This is true of individuals, this is true of churches, this is true of nations. Blessing is never simply for the good of the one being blessed, it is always meant to be shared, to be communal.

So do yourself a favor, if you ask for a blessing be prepared because it comes with the responsibility of blessing others.

+ In what attitude do you ask for blessings? for yourself alone or for the good of others.