Bless!

Good morning!

Yesterday morning's post was just too full for me to get to the end of chapter 6 of Numbers.  At the very end of that chapter we see that God gave a commandment to the Levitical priests to bless the people on a regular basis.

Have you ever thought about what that means?

I've realized that the more commonly a word is used, the more generalized the meaning becomes.  For example, here in the South, we say, "Bless Your Heart!" to folks when we are just so appalled or bewildered at their behavior or their life circumstances, we just don't know what else to say.  It is our way of saying, "We don't know how you got into this mess, but we pray that God will help you out of it."  That's what we mean if we are Christian.  For non-Christians, I guess it just means the sayer is pure, plain 'ole appalled, and .... "good luck with that, Buddy!"

At any rate, the words "bless" and "blessed" are tremendously used in Christian circles, and without trying to explain all those circumstances, I thought it might be a good idea for us believers to take a look at the usage of the word here in Numbers.  Later on, I may try to broaden the application to situations in the Bible where, for instance, fathers on their deathbeds blessed their sons.

According to Scripture, a blessing is a very powerful thing.

One of the misunderstandings surrounding "blessing" is that it means that God will give us more "stuff."  Here's an example:  "God has blessed me with a ________".  Sometimes, God has met a need, and other times, we have just used the resources He has given us to obtain something we did not really need but wanted.  I'm not condemning that, per se.  I'm just saying that it is not the original meaning of the blessing.

If you'll recall, in this section of Numbers, God is setting up the Levitical priesthood.  He has been giving the sons of Aaron and other members of the Levi branch of Israelites specific duties regarding the temple worship and care.  One of the duties of Aaron's sons, as seen here in Numbers 6:22-27 is to bless the people.  In fact, God gives Aaron the very words to use.  Here they are, verses 24-26, from the NIV:

"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."

So, why?

Why did God command Aaron and his sons and their sons and all the Levitical priests after them to do this?

Look at verse 27: (Message version)

"In so doing, they {the Levitical priests}  will place my name on the People of Israel - - - I will confirm it by blessing them."

God is saying that, somehow, supernaturally, when this blessing is delivered over the people of God, they are marked with His name.  It is an act of "setting apart" for God, an act of sanctification.  

And, then, God confirms this labeling by blessing His people, by giving them more of Himself.  

The blessing is a reaffirmation of God's commitment to His people, a reaffirmation of His promise that we are His, and a promise of His steadfast love.  A blessing is like a love note from God to His Bride!

In my local church, at the end of each Sunday morning worship service, our pastor lifts his hands over the congregation and delivers this blessing from Numbers 6 over us.  And, then he says, "I love you!" From the beginning of this practice, I recognized the words, as they are commonly seen on religious plaques and so forth, but had forgotten from where in the Old Testament the words came.  I ran across them, reading Numbers 6 these past couple of days.

There are other places in Scripture where the writers closed their books with a blessing.  One example is at the end of the book of Jude, and it is probably my favorite blessing of all.  Here it is in the King James Version:

"Now, unto Him that is able to keep you from falling,

And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

To the only wise God our Savior

Be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.

Amen.

(Jude 1:24-25)

I'd like to dig deeper into that passage later...maybe tomorrow.  Such beauty!  Such promise!

Dear Loving Lord, thank you for turning Your face toward your people so that Your glory shines on us who are marked by Your name.  Thank you for being gracious to us, the redeemed, the Bride of Christ! Thank you for the peace that being marked with Your name, Father, Savior, gives us...peace which the world cannot understand, peace that enables Your children to do supernatural miracles, in Your name. Thank you for this peace that also allows us to find our rest and put our trust in You, our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Mark us again, today, so that we may glorify You, so that we may walk ... resplendent!  In Jesus' name, amen.