II Timothy 1:7 Psalm 67; Numbers 6:24-6 - "The Blessing"

The Lord took me to Psalm 69 this morning. This Psalm reminds me of the song The Blessing and Numbers 6:24-26.

The Lord bless you
And keep you
Make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you
The Lord turn His
Face toward you
And give you peace

Amen, amen, amen
Amen, amen, amen

This blessing is one heard often at the end of many church services. It also is one that fills me up with His love. Psalm 69 reads in The Passion Translation:

1 God, keep us near your mercy-fountain and bless us!
And when you look down on us, may your face beam with joy![a]
Pause in his presence
2 Send us out all over the world so that everyone everywhere
will discover your ways and know who you are
and see your power to save.
3 Let all the nations burst forth with praise;
let everyone everywhere love and enjoy you!
4 Then how glad the nations will be when you are their King.
They will sing, they will shout, for you give true justice to the people.
Yes! You, Lord, are the shepherd of the nations!
Pause in his presence
5 No wonder the peoples praise you!
Let all the people praise you more![b]
6 The harvest of the earth is here!
God, the very God we worship,
keeps us satisfied at his banquet of blessings.
7 And the blessings keep coming!
Then all the ends of the earth will give him
the honor he deserves and be in awe of him!

The term mercy-fountain means accepting mercy from Him. It means being In relationship with God. As we are, He will bless us in abundance. The desire of His heart is for all to be in relationship with Him. He is all we need. As we accept Him into our heart, He will protect us through loving us. He will take care of us and show us favor. Oh my did we feel His favor yesterday. Hearing the explanation as to what our AC needed to be fixed was a bit overwhelming but as Doc said, "God will provide." It didn't take long for Him to show His favor to us. Within the last week we have received money from a couple friends to use 'for whatever you need.' Yesterday within minutes of receiving the news of the AC needing fixed we received two checks in the mail from friends 'for whatever you need'! We don't know how much the repair will be but I know it is covered because God takes care of such things! Spurgeon wrote about this Psalm:

God is our protector and our defense. He wants us near Him.  The word “keep” that is used here is descriptive of God drawing us into His bosom where we will be safe. His promise is not only to protect us, but to take care of us. As God watches over us His face shines upon us. When God’s face shine’s upon us it is His favor and acceptance.  Remember that when Jesus was on the cross, God, the Father, had to turn away from Him, because at that moment Jesus took our sin upon Him and this made Him sin. God, being a holy God could not look upon His own Son in that moment and His eyes shifted from being upon His Son to looking upon us in Christ. We are His righteousness and God’s love focuses on us. He is delighted with His children and treats us with kindness and goodness.

I am so grateful for His face shining down upon us. He takes care of us so well. There is no better place I desire to be than in His bosom. As I live there, I know I am where I am suppose to be. The more I live in His presence, the more I experience life with Him. The more I experience life with Him, the more I desire to praise Him. The title of this Psalm in The Passion Translation is It's Time To Praise Him! He desires and deserves our praises. We have much to praise Him for no matter what is happening in our day! Yesterday was a 'good' day and full of praises despite there being some 'not so good' things that happened.

• HVAC man was able to work us into his busy schedule.
• God blessed us financially through two people who had not a clue about our AC situation.
• Doc was able to ride along with me for errands.
• AC was working in the church building.
• We were blessed with the opportunity to buy fresh produce at the farm and a good sale on meat at the grocery store.
• We completed four projects...two for home and two for church.
• We took another step to completing the refinance on the house and received conditional approval.

These things were accomplished throughout a day with lots of rest time in between but Doc was blessed with being able to participate in the whole day. Woo hoo! God is so good! I love what Spurgeon wrote. We are His righteousness and God's love focuses on us. Yes! As He focuses on us, we need to focus on Him. As we focus on Him, we will walk in obedience to His will. His will is for everyone to live in relationship with Him. His will is also for us to share His love with all He puts before us. Matthew Henry wrote about Psalm 67:

The success of the gospel brings outward mercies with it; righteousness exalts a nation. The blessing of the Lord sweetens all our creature-comforts to us, and makes them comforts indeed. All the world shall be brought to worship Him. When the gospel begins to spread, it shall go forward more and more, till it reaches to the ends of the earth. It is good to cast in our lot with those that are the blessed of the Lord. If nothing had been spoken in Scripture respecting the conversion of the heathen, we might think it vain to attempt so hopeless a work. But when we see with what confidence it is declared in the Scriptures, we may engage in missionary labours, assured that God will fulfil his own word. And shall we be backward to make known to the heathen the knowledge with which we are favoured, and the salvation we profess to glory in? They cannot learn unless they are taught. Then let us go forward in the strength of the Lord, and look to him to accompany the word the Holy Ghost; then Satan's kingdom shall be destroyed, and the kingdom of our Redeemer established.

Yes! We must share His love so others can live in His presence too! That last statement is powerful. Then let us go forward in the strength of the Lord, and look to him to accompany the word the Holy Ghost; then Satan's kingdom shall be destroyed, and the kingdom of our Redeemer established. Are we willing to do this? Are we willing to allow God to work in and through us to bring others into relationship with Him? Do we truly want to see the enemy destroyed so God can be who He desires to be? Are we willing to stand in His love and empowerment as II Timothy 1:7 encourages us to do? These are questions we each have to answer for ourselves.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You this Psalm and song this morning that encourages me greatly to continue to stand in Your love and empowerment as II Timothy 1:7 instructs us to do! Thank You for all of the ways You showed Your favor upon us yesterday! Thank You for Doc having a better day despite the pain he experienced! May today be a better day in the pain aspect and may he walk in Your will. Lord, thank You for all of the blessings You provided yesterday. Woo hoo! It was a bless-filled day with Your physical, mental, emotional, financial, and spiritual blessings. Thank You for: friends who listened to You and blessed us financially; AC being on in the church building for the first time; us completing four projects; provision of fresh produce and good buys on meat; another step completed in the refinance process on the house; and Travis having time to work us in to check the AC! You are so, so good to us. Lord, cleanse me this morning so You can fill me. I pray for opportunities to show Your love to all I meet or talk with today. May You ooze out of me in a new, different way. I pray things went well for Martha's niece Brandy yesterday. May You be near to her in the days ahead. I also pray for my friend Cait to feel Your presence as she goes through some tough days. Lord, I pray for the policemen to be blessed by the treats we dropped off to them yesterday. Lord, continue to use us where You have put us. Thank You for being Our Mercy Fountain! Amen.