Most of us find it fairly easy to ask God for personal blessing. Don’t believe me? Read over your church’s prayer list (or your own, for that matter). We pray for provision, protection, healing, wisdom, peace, a stronger family, a healthy and growing church, and countless other gifts that really are good and wonderful blessings from God. And it’s a biblical thought: “May God be gracious to us. May He bless us. May His face shine upon us.”

However, if we are faithful to the text, we can’t stop there. The Psalmist gives this prayer of blessing a landing point, a destination: “So that your way may be known on earth.” Those first two words are crucial: “So that …”

If ignored, those two words can expose something in our own hearts. We often want blessing, even the legitimate ones as spoken in this passage, to end with us, to be turned in on our own consumption and enjoyment. We want grace to make our lives easier, provision so we feel more secure, and strength to protect what we’ve built. But Psalm 67 asks us to desire something else.

He says, “Bless us so that your name can be made known among the nations.
In that calling, you can hear echoes of Abraham, whom God blessed so he would then become a blessing to others. Divine blessing was NEVER meant to become a private possession, but a shareable beacon to the world of the goodness of God.
 
Here, the Psalmist turns that call into a prayer: “Let the peoples praise You … Let the nations rejoice … Let all the peoples praise You.” He longs for people he has never met, for nations who’ve not known the joy of God’s rule, to experience the love and acceptance he knew well. He’s doing more than tolerating outsiders; he desires their worship to be pointed to God and the Name to be praised.
 
Global mission begins here, in the human heart renewed by the Spirit of God. It begins with our own desire. Do we really want God’s salvation to be known throughout the earth, or just on our native soil? Do we really want His Kingdom to grow when that growth contributes nothing to the ease of our lives or makes our own ministries more impressive?
 
God has shown us incredible mercy in Jesus. His grace then teaches us to look beyond ourselves and pray, “Let all the peoples praise You.”

The truly redeemed heart that has received grace eventually wants that grace to travel to others.

When you ask God to bless you and yours, where do you imagine that blessing ending? With you, or with others? How might your prayers, resources, relationships, or ministries become a part of making God’s salvation known beyond your immediate world and influence?

Father, please be gracious to us and bless us so Your name and Your ways may be known in all the earth. Grow in me a desire that spreads beyond my own comfort and personal concern. Give me genuine Holy Spirit joy when Your name is honored among peoples and places far beyond my own backyard. Especially when You’ve brought those peoples to my backdoor. Amen.

“I want God’s blessing in my life to reach beyond me by __________________.”