Life Together

Psalm 67

 God be merciful to us and bless us,
         And cause His face to shine upon us,  Selah
 That Your way may be known on earth,
         Your salvation among all nations.
      
 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
         Let all the peoples praise You.
 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
         For You shall judge the people righteously,
         And govern the nations on earth. Selah
      
 Let the peoples praise You, O God;
         Let all the peoples praise You.
 Then the earth shall yield her increase;
         God, our own God, shall bless us.
 God shall bless us,
         And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

The sincerity of singing this prayer can be evaluated by asking ourselves the following 3 questions:

First: Do we want Him?

The first line calls for God’s full attention in our lives. We all want that personal attention when illness, tragedy, or disaster affects us; but what about all the time?

Secondly: Do we want Them?

The end result of the Lord’s countenance shining on His people is that others come in; people from outside the church who are troubled, who are sick, who have the baggage of living for years without Christ. (10, out of the 15 lines in this Psalm, are about ‘Them’.)

Thirdly: Do we want Us?

The blessing promised here changes our lives and changes the world but this prayer/song is corporate, communal. If we are not focused on being Kingdom minded and living in community then this text doesn’t belong to us.