Be Blessed by the Light of God's Countenance

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: the LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Num 6:24-26

The majority of us are familiar with this blessing which God told Moses he was to share with his brother Aaron to pray out over the people of Israel. Many of us hear our pastors pronounce this blessing on those of us in the congregation every Sunday at the close of worship service.

Any blessing that comes straight from the mouth of God and is something He longs to do for us is worth examining. In this devotional, I want to focus on the two long portions of this prayer -- the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you and the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.

God's face shining on us -- God describes Himself in His Word as light. In Him there is no darkness ... where He is, even the darkness is light around Him. Nothing is hidden in darkness or obscurity before God. His light permeates all places. And in the Book of Revelation in the Bible, we're told that in heaven, there will even be no need of the sun, because the light that comes from God and His throne will be all the light we need.

So, when we ask God, at His request, to make His face shine on us and be gracious to us, we're asking Him to show us His glory and light by looking at us, remembering us, seeing us, in all our turmoil and need, in all our desperation and inadequacy, in all our sinfulness and brokenness, and light up everything. We're asking Him to expose by His light those things in our lives that keep us from being made whole, clean and free ... those sins and habits that hold us captive ... those thoughts that make us dirty and threaten to devour us and everything that would make us noble or good ... those fears and anxieties that rob us of life.

We're asking Him, in effect, to show us everything He sees when He looks at us, so we can see too, and so, we can recognize, repent and turn from those things and be redeemed and restored to live life as God created us to live it. We're asking Him to warm us, enfold us, shower us with the divine light and radiant glory that shine from His face and to make us recipients of His grace -- His unmerited favor, as He turns His face toward us. We don't deserve forgiveness, cleansing, healing. We don't deserve His light, warmth, acceptance and favor ... that's the wonder of it all. God wants to give those to us, because of who He is, His character, His love for us, His desire to forgive, His desire for a relationship with us, His desire to heal us and grant us abundant life.

By His grace, we can live above the power of sin. By His grace, we can gain a heavenly perspective on life. By His grace, we have authority as His ambassadors and His heirs and joint heirs with Christ, to make use of His incredibly great power, to make use of His Name and His inheritance to us of the riches of His character and the riches of heaven. By His grace, we can draw ever closer to Him and be transformed in our lives and thinking from glory to glory, so that we walk in victory and truth, no matter what crosses our path.

God's countenance lifted up on us -- Jesus told us He is our peace ... He is Jehovah-Shalom. He said He also gives us His peace, not a peace like the world gives, but real peace, a peace that flows from His Holy Spirit living inside us, when we give our lives to Him. This is a peace which brings true wholeness ... in reconciliation to God, so no sin puts a gulf between us and Him; in reconciliation with man in relationships, so having received His forgiveness, we, too, have the power to forgive; in reconciliation to our own bodies, so we care for them as God's holy temple; in reconciliation with our own souls, which enables us to build righteous character and reflect our Creator, rather than live out the profane, self-centered character our flesh wants us to form.

When God lifts up His countenance upon us, that is, His face as it indicates His character and all that He is as the Supreme, Sovereign, Almighty, Holy God, and can look at us in relationship, because of Jesus, we are blessed with His perfect peace. There's no longer enmity, war and wrath between God and man because of our sin. When our trust is in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, our sin is separated from us and thrown as far as the east is from the west. We have peace, because God draws near and lifts up His countenance upon us.

When God lifts up His countenance upon us, and we bask in the light and favor emanating from Him, we are enveloped in His perfect -- nothing can disturb us -- peace, regardless of the circumstances we face ... regardless of death or life, loss or gain, have or have not. That's the peace that enables martyrs for Christ to face death with joy, those imprisoned to endure and persevere with equanimity and triumph, those rejected to respond with love, those faced with the loss of all things dear to have hope, those treated with brutality and cruelty to live with unsurpassed power and a confident, quiet spirit that rests in the faithfulness and perfect will of their Creator and Heavenly Father. They know their God wastes nothing that occurs. They know their God's plans are never thwarted, no matter how far man gets off course. They have peace.

So for you, I pray: May the LORD bless you, and keep you: the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you: the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

• Email This Page to a Friend
• Print this Page