The Lord Bless You and Keep You

When I was growing up I loved it when the chorus from Freed-Hardeman came through our area. I thrilled to hear the songs they sang, especially the spirituals, and was impressed with “The Lord Bless You and Keep You” with its seven-fold ‘Amen’ at the end. Later I attended Freed-Hardeman and sang with the Chorale. Although we didn’t use this song as our closing song, we still learned it and I enjoyed singing it. It was around this time that I discovered that what we were singing was actually a text from the Law of Moses.

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron and his sons, “This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.’ ” So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.’” (Numbers 6:22-27 NIV)

This was a blessing that God gave the high priest to give to the Israelites. Notice the reason was to “put my name on the Israelites” — and this blessing really is all about God. It was the Lord who would bless them, keep them, be gracious to them, and give them peace. Through this blessing they were to learn that they belonged to God and that all blessings came from him.

It would be easy for them — and it is easy for us — to forget that all blessings are from God. After all, they were the ones who would go out, get the ground ready for planting, plant the seed, tend the crops as they grew, harvest the crops, and then store them for later use. We can be the same way: we are the ones who study and plan, go to work, do our jobs, and (in our mind) earn our wage. Yet even though we have a part to play, God is still the one who causes all of this to happen.

You may have seen the film, Shenandoah. In that film the father, played by James Stewart, was leading his family in prayer at the dinner table. This is what he said: “Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvest it. We cook the harvest. It wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t be eating it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you Lord just the same for the food we’re about to eat, amen.” Although humorous, it does well represent how people view what they enjoy in life.

This father somehow thought himself self-sufficient, not realising that all that he had, including his ability to work the land, came from God— and not to mention that the seed he planted was not something that he could make grow. Only God could do this.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he included the request: “Give us each day our daily bread” (Luke 11:1-4). When we pray this we aren’t to expect food to instantly appear on our tables. We realise that God blesses us through the abilities he has given us to be able to work and earn a living. But we need to acknowledge that it is God who gives us what we have and enjoy. He is the one who blesses us.

Do we have what we need to live? Then we need to thank God for it! Do we live a good life? Then thank God! Do we enjoy relationships with family and friends? Thank God for this as well, as we realise he is gracious to us. Do we have peace in our lives? Again we need to thank God for this.

All that we have is God’s blessing to us. May we always be thankful to him!

Jon Galloway, link to original article