“God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us that Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.”
Psalm 67: 1-2
Psalm 67 is one of my favorite Psalms because, unlike so many who cry for blessings today, the Psalmist does not ask to be blessed so he can spend it on himself. Instead, his cry is that God would bless him so that through him the nations might hear and come to know and worship God! That has always been the motive behind the saint’s desire for blessing. We do not ask God to bless us so we can hoard the blessing. We ask Him to bless us that we might share His blessing with others by serving them and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.
Isn’t that what He said to Abraham when he called him to faith? He said, “I will bless you and you will be a blessing and all nations on earth will be blessed through you!” (Gen 12:3) Think of it! God blesses us so that through us, nations and people we’ve never met might be blessed to hear and respond to the saving Gospel of Christ as we help send it around the world!
That’s why I’m always eager to remind you to give to our Christmas Mission’s Offering. My prayer is that, as God has blessed you so you will gratefully set aside a generous gift to help “spread the fame of Christ’s Name” to the nations. You can designate your gift to any one or more of our partner missions, knowing that 100% will go to that organization and its mission. This year our gifts will support HeartCry Missionary Society (Paul Washer, the Tomeci & Palada families in Romania, etc); Psalm 67 Missions (Our mission to the Spanish-speaking people of Texas and Mexico); The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (Supporting the 4000+ missionaries of the IMB), The Zizin Mission Project in Romania, and our friend Michael Hawkins as he prepares to go to serve in Japan. How will the Lord lead you and your family to give?
That His Name may be praised among the Nations!
Pastor Scott Lee