Blessing.

"The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.'"

(Numbers 6:22-27)

One of the many roles of the priests in the Old Testament was to speak BLESSING upon the people. Yes, there were also sacrifices and other ritualistic activities to be performed during worship. But quite possibly one of the most significant aspects of priestly authority was to speak blessing.

In the original covenant God made with Abraham, the people of Israel were to be a BLESSING TO THE WORLD. Being God's "chosen people" wasn't membership in an exclusive club, cur off from the rest of the world. Far from it. God intended his people to be a blessing to everyone else.

I think part of the power of this blessing from Numbers 6 is that it reminded people just how blessed they were, because of God. We humans forget. Easily. We have self-doubt... fear... self-condemnation... feelings of insignificance & low self-worth. That's part of our human condition. We need to be reminded that God's blessing is not contingent upon our goodness. It's all about God's graciousness and mercy.

So we can hear the blessing of Numbers 6. We must hear it. And remember! But only so much as it compels us to pass on that blessing to others. For that's why we were created: to give God glory and be a blessing to the world.

So... May the LORD bless you and keep you. May the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the LROD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. AMEN.