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Bless You!

             May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings.  May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests.

          Now this I know: The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. Lord, give victory to the king! Answer us when we call! (Psalm 20)

 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

 

I have heard pastors give the second passage as a benediction. It’s nice to hear, a nice way to end a sermon and tell everyone that it’s time for them to go home. In some vague, thoughtless way, I think they actually meant it. You know, like “Have a nice day!” or “Hi, how are you?” as they walk away. Some might be offended that I thought so little of their sincerity, but to be honest, I suspect that most people don’t qualify for and wouldn’t know what to do with such concentrated attention from God.  It sounds nice.

And if we aren’t really ready for the blessing from Numbers, how much more so the blessing from Psalm 20. May the Lord grant all your requests? (Emphasis mine.) I can’t help but think things like, “All their requests? That’s dangerous,” and “All their requests? What about mine? When’s my turn?”

The blessings in the first half of Psalm 20 are a little more realistic: answers when they’re in distress, protection, help, and support, etc. But then we get back to “the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” Who in their right mind would ask for such blessings for anyone?

The second paragraph gives us the answer. This blessing isn’t being asked for just anyone. It’s being asked on behalf of the Lord’s Anointed. The blessing in Numbers is given to God’s chosen people. And with the exception of Jesus, all of the Lord’s Anointeds failed and lost blessings. God’s chosen people were never His chosen people because they earned the title.

I think the language may be part of the reason I cringe when I think of blessing someone this way. It’s so big. It’s the sort of blessing only God could give, but it’s expansive. It’s like the ad in which a man draws a woman into a wide plaza and shouts, “I love you! I love you!” The woman draws close to the man and whispers, “I love you.” I’m more like the woman. I’m not even sure I want you to know that I’m asking for a blessing on you, let alone an extra special, big blessing.

But the sad reality is that this is my usual thinking. This is precisely the sort of thinking that I am trying to grow out of. So this is precisely the sort of prayer I need to learn to pray.

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