Joel Kim

Friends, often we find ourselves loving the gift more than the giver.

We seek and pray for those gifts that only the Lord can provide, where we love those gifts and seek those gifts much more than the giver himself.

And frankly, we should love the giver more than the gift that you and I may desire.

You know what's amazing when you go back to Numbers 6 again?

The Aaronic blessing ends with the benediction with these words that Psalm 67 does not include.

It simply says this.

So God says, shall they put my name upon the people of Israel and I will bless them.

We are baptized into the name of God.

of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, whether you're a Kim or a Lee or even a Ferguson, we now bear the name of our Lord and Savior who says, I will bless my people because of Jesus.

We bear his name.

Friends, may I just remind you as we think about our identity in Christ Jesus, the point emphasized over and over again, we are blessed.

But this is where Psalm takes a turn.

The Psalmist is clear that being blessed comes with a purpose.

And notice the purpose clause in verse two, that it's indicating what needs to result from it.

Simply says, that your way may be known on earth, the psalmist declares, your saving power among the nations.

Surrounded by blessings, the core of the psalm is found in refrain of verses three to five.

And notice how the psalmist foreshadows

frames the refrain with verse 3 and verse 5, repeating the same thing when it says, "'Let the peoples praise you, O God.

Let all the peoples praise you.'"

In the middle of these twice-repeated call for praise, divine intention can be divined, as we understand in verse 4, "'Let the nations be glad.'"