Bless Your Heart Prayers of Blessing Numbers 6:24-26 May 13, 2012 (Graduate Sunday) Rev.

. Deborah Dail Denbigh Presbyterian Church

Numbers 6:24-26
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The Lord bless you and keep you; 25the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. We throw around the word bless quite a bit. We bless our food before we eat, we ask for God to bless us and others we know and love, we say Bless you after someone sneezes. We say we are blessed or that was a blessing. In the South we say bless your heart with a variety of meanings intended. We are currently studying prayer on Monday evenings and I am preaching a sermon series on prayer. Today, we are focusing on prayers of blessing. But what does bless or blessed or blessing mean? In the Bible, the word bless is used in different ways. It means different things when we bless a person and when we bless God, for example. When directed toward a person, The Hebrew word for bless/blessed conveys the idea of being strengthened, of our weakness being compensated for with Gods strength. One of the nouns which derive from this Hebrew root word is the word for knee,/kneel (Kneeling is often the posture for receiving a blessing.) The knee is thought to be one of the weaker parts of the body and is particularly susceptible to injury. In our weakness we kneel before God and God provides his strength (his blessing). Thus a blessing from God is

empowerment to be able to do what is not within our natural capabilities. (WordPress.com) When God blesses a person God showers a special favor, mercy or benefit. When we pray a prayer of blessing for someone we are asking God to bestow upon that person His favor, mercy and benefits. We are asking God to empower that person to be able to do what is not within his /her natural capabilities. When we bless God (such as in our Call to Worship for this morning Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name.), we are praising God. Blessing is praising, exalting, thanking God for who God is and what God has done. Often, we bless/thank God for blessing us; that is we bless/thank God for bestowing favor, mercy and benefits on us and for bridging the gaps of our weaknesses. The Bible is full of blessings. One of the more familiar blessings in the Bible is Numbers 6: 24-26. The background of this particular blessing is that Gods people (the Israelites/Hebrews) had been slaves in Egypt. God sent Moses to deliver the people out of bondage in Egypt. Through many miraculous events, including the parting of the Red Sea, the Israelites were set free and escaped. They began their journey to the Promised Land. When the blessing from Numbers 6 is given, the Israelites are preparing to leave Mt. Sinai where they have been camped for almost a year. (Terence E. Fretheim; workingpreacher.org) This blessing 24The Lord bless you and keep you; 25the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace was given by God to Moses which was in turn to be given to Aaron and his sons. (That is why this blessing is often referred to as the Aaronic Blessing.) God said this is how Aaron and his sons are to bless the people of Israel as they move forward on their journey. In fact, God directed that this blessing was to

be prayed daily as the Israelites made their journey from Mt. Sinai to the Promised Land. Im sure the Israelites had some mixed feelings as they were breaking up camp and getting ready for the journey ahead of them. I imagine today that our graduates have some mixed feelings at this transition point in their lives. Many of you will be breaking up camp at home, at your dorm or apartment, at your old job. Even if youre not breaking up camp or making a physical move to a new location things are still changing for you. You are embarking on a new leg of your life journey. You may have feelings of incredible excitement and you likely have some fear or anxiety about the unknown road before you. You may even feel a little weak in the knees about the next steps youll be taking. You are in good company with the Israelites as they set out from Sinai. You are in good company with all who have or are stepping out into new territory. We also know that even for those of us not graduating or making a major life change, every day presents us with the challenge of stepping out into new territory new arenas of service, new opportunities to make a difference, new opportunities for faithfulness to God as we work, play and serve in the world. We all realize on a daily basis that there is a gap between our own strength and knowledge and the responsibilities God sets before us. We feel weak in the knees many days as we ponder our responsibilities and callings. Graduates and those of us not graduating need a blessing. We need a daily infusion of Gods power and strength as we journey forward. We need Gods special favor, mercy and benefit to move forward, to break up camp every day especially the camp of complacency, especially the camp of fear. The blessing from Numbers 6 is for all of us . . . every day . . . as we break up camp and move forward to where God would have us go. We need a daily reminder that God is with us. We do not journey forward alone.

Lets take a few moments to unpack the elements of the blessing, The Lord bless you and keep you; 25the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. The Lord bless you the Lord favor you, shower a divine gift upon you that indirectly or directly serves your life, health and wellbeing. (Freitheim) It is important to remember that Gods blessings are always for a greater good. We are blessed to be a blessing to others. We are blessed not for the sake of privilege but for responsibility. Graduates, as we ask for Gods blessings upon you today we do so with this idea in mind. We are asking God to bless you so that you will be a blessing. The Lord keep you is a way of asking God to keep you safe. May the Lord shelter you from evil and its effects. The Israelites faced many dangers in the wilderness. You and I face many physical and spiritual threats to our well-being on our journeys, as well. We ask God to keep us safe. We ask God to see us through the many dangers, toils and snares of this life. We ask God to be with us even as we endure the ill effects of evil all around us in the world. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. God knew the Israelites were undeserving of his favor based on their behaviors their unfaithfulness. We know that we are undeserving. Yet this prayer of blessing speaks of God making his face to shine upon the Israelites and of God being gracious/merciful/kind to them. Terrence Freitheim says: You get to see Gods face glowing, not glaring! This is a gracious move on Gods part to those who are undeserving. We are blessed, we are gifted with unmerited favor and mercy. God smiles upon us. Graduates, imagine God smiling upon you now and throughout your journey ahead. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. In The Message this passage is translated: God bless you and keep you. God smile on you and gift you. God look you full in the face and
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make you prosper. One writer has said this is like receiving a holy nod from God. The word peace/shalom used in this blessing is a very rich word. Eugene Peterson says: Its more than peace as we know it. Its prosperity, in the fullest sense of the word. Its life in all its abundance, which we have brimming over from Christ living inside us. (Peterson, Conversations) Graduates and all others: let us remember that God looks each of us full in the face. God lifts up His countenance upon us. God does not divert his eyes from us; rather he looks us full in the face, straight in the eye, and offers us peace, wholeness. As Christians we understand this peace this wholeness to be a gift from God through His son Jesus Christ who died and rose again for us. Following the blessing in Numbers 6, the text says that In so doing, they will place my name on the People of Israel I will confirm it by blessing them (The Message). With this blessing comes belonging. With this blessing comes a name Gods name. With this blessing God continues to remind the Israelites and to remind us that we belong to Him, we are claimed as His own. That knowledge gives us the power and strength when our knees are weak, when we are breaking up camp and moving into new territory, when we are embarking on a new leg of our life journey. We have a name. We belong to God. We are not alone. Did Aaron and his sons pray this blessing for the people of Israel daily as they were commanded? I dont know. Whether they did or not, I would encourage us to consider making this blessing our daily prayer for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, for all who are around us and especially for our graduates. Today, let us go forth knowing that we belong to God and that we are blessed. Let us go forth remembering that we are blessed to be a blessing wherever we journey today and in the days to come.