So, why do you want to be blessed? Well, that sounds like a stupid question, doesn’t it? Everyone wants to be free of pain, to have everything that we need – and maybe a little bit more. But in these seven verses, the psalmist rocks our self-centered world by giving us an even more important reason for God’s people to desire blessings: so that God would get the credit for giving them to us.

Now, it’s easy to see how a relationship with God naturally yields blessings in our individual lives. After all, consistent followers of Christ tend to work hard so that we can care for each other (I Timothy 6:18), and hard work has always been a primary source of prosperity. Moreover, can’t we all point to times when God provided for us in very clear and unmistakable ways? What about that job that opened up at just the right time, or that customer who just happened to drop by when you needed to make a sale, or that contribution that arrived just in time to pay a bill? Or as one farmer put it, “An inch of rain at the right time makes you look like a genius!”

But that’s the catch, isn’t it? For if we want the unbelievers around us to see our prosperity as evidence of God’s blessings, and thus proof of God’s power and love, don’t we need to make sure He gets the credit? Don’t we need to say, “Oh, God is the One Who sent the rain – that’s why my crops grew so well (verse 6)”? Don’t we need to say, “Yes, this is a great job, but God is the One Who made sure I have it and Who gives me the ability to do it”? In short, don’t we need to do the same sort of thing so many athletes do when they make a great play or win a big game – don’t we need to point skyward and give the glory to God?

So, yes, let’s pray that God would bless us, not so that we might be comfortable, but so that “all the ends of the earth may fear Him” (verse 7). And let’s include in our prayers the Psalmist’s refrain as our greatest desire of all: “Let all the people’s praise Thee” (verses 3 and 5). For what greater blessing could we have than, by our example and by our words, to introduce others to Christ, so that they too might walk in His ways and receive His salvation (verse 2)? What greater reason could we have to be glad and sing for joy, than to help others look forward to the coming Judgment Day with hope instead of fear (verse 4)?

Psalm 67 (NASB)

For the choir director; with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us – Selah.
2 That Thy way may be known on the earth, Thy salvation among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; Let all the peoples praise Thee.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For Thou wilt judge the peoples with uprightness, And guide the nations on the earth. Selah.
5 Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; Let all the peoples praise Thee.
6 The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us.
7 God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.