O For A Thousand Tongues

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 on the earth,

your saving power among all nations. 

Let the people praise you, O God;

let all the peoples praise you!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

for you judge the peoples with equity

and guide the nations upon the earth.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

let all the people's praise you!

The earth has yielded its increase;

God, our God, shall bless us.

God shall bless us;

let all the ends of the earth fear him!

Wait, read that again.

I read this Psalm this morning, and at first it struck me as a little bit selfish. Like maybe the kind of Psalm that prosperity gospel preachers love. But then, looking closer, I realized that being blessed is not the point of this psalm at all. The goal of the blessing is that all nations would see God's saving power. This was His intention in blessing Israel through the offspring of Abraham, and was brought to a whole new level of fulfillment through the birth of His Son, incarnated to give us freedom from sin, and life to the fullest. Talk about blessing.

Side note: life to the fullest means this life too, not just life after death. Psalm 27 says "I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" Sometimes we forget that Jesus wants us to have joy in this life. Check out the book of John if you need proof. Actually, check out the book of John anyway.

God does not bless us for the sake of the blessing, but we usually allow ourselves to think that way, which leads not only to idolatry but also to a sense of entitlement. Greed. "I deserve" this or that... "I earned it" even! No, we do not deserve anything from God, and we have not earned anything but what our rebellion would suggest that we want - eternal separation from Him. Yet He still desires for these selfish beings to see His goodness, and he asks us to share the grace that we have found. His purpose is not to make me happy, and He is not content for one people to know His love while the rest live and die in darkness. His purpose is for all nations, tribes, and tongues to praise Him, for His name is too great to be contained or expressed in only one language. "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer's praise!" God is in pursuit of all peoples, and He is calling us to testify to what we have seen, and to offer freely what we have been freely given.