How to Be Blessed
Series: A Biblical Guide to Wilderness Survival
September 25, 2011
What does it mean to be blessed? Have you ever asked yourself that question?
• finances?
• health?
• lovely family?
• lots of friends?
• good looks?
• All the above?
And what happens if you don’t have any of these things? Does it mean you’re cursed?
The music video we watched during the offering was a song by Martina McBride, called, “Blessed”, and in it she describes the simple things in life that bring her joy…like the feeling of a hardwood floor under her feet, or the sound of her kids playing in the hallway. She looks around her and concludes…”I’m blessed!” Have you ever done that? I mean, have you ever just stopped for a moment and counted your blessings? There’s an old hymn that encourages us to do just that…”Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done”. Many times God has blessed us but we just don’t see it anymore.
You know, deep in everyone of our hearts we want to be able to feel like our lives have been blessed, but instead of blessing, many of us go through our lives feeling like we’ve been cursed! So how do we find that life of blessing? In this world, where we’re surrounded by the heartache or relational brokenness, the pain of loved ones suffering and the daily trials of living …where do we find true blessing? Well, that’s what the passage of scripture we’re going to read from Numbers this morning is going to tell us…what the life of blessing is… and how we can receive it. I want you to listen to Numbers 6:22-27, as it gives us 3 foundational truths about blessing…
1. What it is…
2. Where it comes from, and…
3. How we can receive it…
READ Numbers 6:22-27… 22 The LORD said to Moses, 23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: 24 “The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ 27 “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
The 1st thing I want you to see from this passage is…
1. Where does blessing comes from?
Are you ready? According to this verse…Blessing comes from only one source…The Lord! It doesn’t come from how much money you have in the bank, or how big your house is…or from you own or want to own…it doesn’t even come anything from having hardwood floors. I’ve had them before and believe me… if you’ve ever tried to keep them clean…they’re actually more of a pain than a blessing! HA. No…when you boil it all down…blessing comes from the Lord! This is such a strong message, that the Lord reiterates it 3 x’s!!!”
1. The LORD bless you and keep you…
2. The LORD make his face shine on you and be
gracious to you…
3. The LORD turn his face toward you and give you
peace.”
That word in the Heb. for “LORD” is the personal name for God…”Jehovah”. It’s a personal blessing straight from God to His people. And then, just in case you missed it, the Lord sums it all up by saying to Moses in vs.27…”I MYSELF will bless them”…the Heb. is emphatic at that point! The reason that the Lord emphasizes so strongly where the “blessing” comes from, is because we have a natural tendency to look for “blessing” in all the wrong places. In Jer.2:13, the Lord points this out… 13 “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! - NLT
Have you ever drunk water from a cistern? It’s nasty! Cisterns basically catch rain water and then just kind of sit there and stagnate. In the process, bugs, bacteria, and moss form. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather drink out of a fresh spring. God is saying that instead of seeking our blessings from Him (the spring of living water), we scratch around in stagnant, muddy pools of our own making. For Israel that meant looking to other countries for protection against their enemies, or going to other gods instead of the true and living God. We do that, don’t we? Have you ever tried to dig your own cistern? I have!
Some of us try to find blessing in our possessions …maybe a new computer or a new game system, a luxury car…an Ipad. We fool ourselves into thinking that if we just had that ‘thing’ or that ‘person’, or that ‘job’…that we would be blessed. Maybe you’ve looked for blessing from your friends, or from your work associates…if they would admire what you’ve done…then you’d be blessed. I’ve done that with pastors before…I figured that if I just pastored a mega-church then maybe they’d honor me! But they all just turn out to be “cracked cisterns”…over time the pleasure or the happiness we thought we’d gain…leaks out!
So where are you trying to seek your blessings from? Is it the Lord…or is it something else? Some of us are like “Thomas the Train”. Ever read those stories to your kids? The ultimate praise you could receive from the other engines were the words…”You are really a useful engine!”. Is that what your heart cries out to hear from someone. If so, you’re looking in the wrong direction and you’ll be tempted to compromise your character at some point in your life to get it. Looking for ‘blessings’ in the wrong place, can set you up for a world of hurt... bankrupsy, disappointment, and dissalusionment. Because TRUE blessing can only come from one source…directly from the mouth of the Lord Himself. I stumbled across this quote from the great Christian writer William Law and it made me think. Maybe it’ll do the same for you… If you depend on God for only half of your happiness, you will love him with only half of your heart. - William Law So true! We need to depend on God for ALL our happiness!
So, maybe we need to back up a little and ask the question…
2. What is blessing?
Maybe the reason we’re looking in all the wrong places is that we really don’t know what we’re looking for! See, if ‘blessing’ isn’t found in ‘having it all’..if it’s not found in having more things and wonderful relationships…or even in being judged to be ‘really useful’…WHAT IS IT? See, I’ve known people (and you probably know some too) who’ve worked hard to have all (or most) of those things…but yet they’re STILL not experiencing ‘blessing’ in their life. In fact, they’re kind of sour and bitter about life. Instead of being happy, they’re complaining and miserable all the time. So, if you can have all the stuff the world tells you will make you happy, and still not be ‘blessed’ …what is this blessing we’re talking about? Well, we read it in the priestly benediction we just heard…did you catch it? It’s very simple: Blessing is found in a FACE-to-FACE relationship with the Lord, where you experience not only His protection…but His favor!
Read the benediction again…”The Lord BLESS you… and KEEP you”. He’s saying, “May the Lord provide us with what we need and protect us from harm.” See, the Lord’s not dumb, and He’s not negligent…He knows that we need food. He knows we need clothing and a house to live in....and the Lord’s blessing includes all of those things in exactly the right amount and at exactly the right time. So there’s nothing wrong with wanting these things, the problem is that we rarely if ever trust Him to provide them. But “The Lord’s Blessing” is way more than having food in our frig, and clothes on our backs…it’s something more substantial and deeper than that…
It’s found in vs.25 & 26…
1. vs.25… “The Lord make His face shine on you…
2. vs.26… “The LORD turn his face toward you…
See…true blessing, lasting blessing, blessing that won’t leak out…is knowing God face-to-face! It’s having an intimate face-to-face relationship with God!
If you think about it, that’s how intimacy is expressed…face-to-face. In fact, we have a whole social network today that is supposed to meet that need in our lives, it’s called what? FACE-book! It’s the idea of being one on one with people even though we may be separated by miles.
So ‘blessing’ comes when God is face to face with us! Think about it…the whole idea of having God’s face shine when He looks at you, is a wonderful image. Have you ever seen a face shine? How about when your kids were little and they were opening up there presents? Remember some of those pictures? Well, what if that face of joy and excitement was God’s face looking straight at you? Some of us can’t even imagine that. We imagine that God’s face is scowling at us! That He’s mad at us for some reason. Or worse, we imagine that He’s turned His back on us! Maybe like our parents did when they were irritated at us for something. We have a tendency to transfer those feelings onto God.
But according to this verse…God isn’t ‘scowling’ at you…He doesn’t have His back to you…No…He’s looking straight at you… and He’s smiling! His face is shining on you, with a big grin of delight! Do you see it? Let me tell you something… there’s no greater feeling of blessing in life than knowing that you’re bringing pleasure to your heavenly Father. When you’re sins have been wiped away by His grace and love, so that the only thing between you and Him is His look of approval and joy. Wow! If you don’t feel the pleasure of God as He looks at you this morning, it’s because you may be hiding some sin, or it could be because you don’t realize fully that He’s forgiven you. So, you’re still walking around with this false sense of guilt… blocking out the glory of His smile on your life! It’s a wonderful, amazing thing to have the face of God shining on you!
Some of you may not be experiencing God’s blessing because you’re not looking at His face…you’re looking at His hand! If you seek His hand (what He can give you) then you may be disappointed, because like I said He may not give to you what you think you need, when you think you need it…BUT… if you seek His FACE (who He is) and seek to have intimate relationship with Him…you’ll never be disappointed. So…you need to pray…”Lord, I don’t want your ‘presents’…I want your presence”. (repeat)
Dads…listen up! Every kid want to know above anything else that their father delights in them. They need to know that they’re important to you, that you light up whenever they walk into the room. Some of us never got that from our earthly fathers. We never felt their faces shine when they turned toward us. If that’s you…then you’ll go through life trying all kinds of things to get that…but you don’t have to…see…God wants you to feel his blessing today…He wants you to feel His pleasure, to actually FEEL that his face shines when he looks at you!
God wants our relationship with Him to be the kind of relationship where we not only know his PROTECTION, but where we know His PRESENSE. And so the Lord commanded the priests to remind His people EVERYDAY that by His grace and mercy…they could know that He delighted in them.
Ok…well we’ve talked about where blessing comes from and what it is…but I don’t want to stop there, because God wants everyone of us this morning to experience His blessing on their lives…so…here’s the 3rd truth…
3. How do I receive blessing?
The answer to that question is that there’s nothing you can physically, humanly do to receive God’s blessing! That’s because it’s not a prize to be earned, it’s a gift to be received! It’s purely a product of His grace and mercy! Now that’s not how most people thought about the ‘gods’ in ancient times. They thought you had to twist the arm of their particular deity to somehow pry a blessing out of his clenched fist. They went around trying to manipulate their way to good things from their gods. That’s why they would go to the priest…see the priest was the person who had connections with the “Big Guy in the Sky”.
People in Moses day looked at dealing with the gods the way we look at dealing with the government. Have you ever had the joy of dealing with the governments legal system? A few months ago, one of my sons cars got impounded because of an unpaid ticket. I was volunteered to help because when he bought the car 8 years ago, the car loan was made in my name. So I had to go with him. We got up at the crack of dawn in order to beat everyone to the courthouse early in the morning only to find out that we weren’t early enough! There was a line snaking out the door and onto the sidewalk. 2 hours later when we finally reached the front desk, my son paid his ticket… but that didn’t get his car back…NOOO! Now we had to go to police station to get a release form.
After that, with the coveted ‘release form’ in hand… we had to stand in line another 2 hours at the DMV…only to find out that the courthouse hadn’t entered the fact that we’d paid the ticket on their computers yet. So we had to call the courthouse and beg them to enter our information on their computers before they closed at 2 p.m. (2 p.m.?)
It’s HARD to get a blessing from the government isn’t it? Why? because they don’t really care a whole lot about your problem! I was shocked! What you need is someone on the inside who knows how to work the system! Unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of money. HA! Anyway, that’s the way some people think God is. He doesn’t really care about there situation, so they figure they need to go to the priest or the pastor, because he’s an expert, he’s got an inside track…he knows how to get you in the back door for your blessing. Unfortunately, that’s the same way most people think today! Not much has changed in 3 thousand years huh? We think we need to steal a blessing from the Lord! We’re pretty convinced that He doesn’t know our name, and if He did…He wouldn’t really like us. Besides, His organization is too big to care about our little issue…so we try and trick Him into giving us a blessed life. Maybe if we’re good enough…maybe if we help our neighbor or attend a church service, we’ll get on His good side. But that’s not what we see going on here.
Did you notice that Aaron doesn’t 1st ask the Lord, “Lord, how do I bless your people?”. Moses doesn’t fill out a request in triplicate…no…the fact is…it’s God who initiates the blessing! It comes out of nowhere at the end of Numbers 6, totally unexpected! He just comes to Aaron and Moses and says, “I want you to place my blessing on these people, and here’s how you do it.” No magic wand, no elaborate religious sounding rituals… just “Here it is”!
Totally out of the blue! They don’t do anything to deserve it! If you’ll remember, in the two chapters before this blessing, God give them a whole “boat load” of laws for 2 kinds of people. In Numbers 5 we have laws that cover the test for a wife accused of unfaithfulness…remember? Then in the first part of Numbers 6 there are laws for the person who takes a Naz. vow. Two completely opposite situations…a faithless wife and a super devoted follower. Which one is more like Israel? They were supposed to be more like the Nazarite…totally devoted to the Lord…but in reality, they were more like the faithless wife…following after false gods. Let me make it more personal. Which one of these persons is more like you? I don’t have to think very long…I’m more like the faithless wife! Before God found me, I was dead in my sins.
After God found me and saved me…my heart STILL wanders and I complain and grumble.
But listen…God is determined to bless me…in spite of myself! The Lord wants his blessing to rest on me and on you! See Jesus came to seek and to save, not the Nazirites…but faithless sinners like us! That’s why Jesus came to the Samaritan woman at the well…she was totally faithless…she had 5 husbands and she was living with a man when he met her! Yet despite all that, Jesus told her about His follower who He said, “was looking for worshipers among people like her” –vs.23. See God is able to bless faithless people like me and you, because he sent his Son to be completely devoted in my place. So it’s not surprising that in Luke 3:22 at His baptism the Father said to him…”You are my beloved Son; with you, I am well pleased!”. Later on at the Mt. of Transfiguration, where he revealed Himself as He really was…with the glory of God himself…the disciples heard the Father say again..”This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” His Father’s face was turned towards Him in blessing.
Yet, one week later, when he was hanging on the cross, everything changed… the bible tells us that He felt the Fathers face turn away from Him. To the point that he cried out, “My God, my God…why have you forsaken me?” For the 1st time in eternity, His Father wasn’t pleased with Him. He didn’t respond with blessing. Even the sun turned away and became dark…the very universe couldn’t bear to look at Him. So what happened? What did Jesus do that was so bad that He lost God’s blessing? Nothing! It’s what WE did! The bible says that “He was bruised for OUR sin”…he was abandoned for OUR unfaithfulness, not His own! He was cursed…so that we could be blessed!
Because of what He did in my place…my sin and unfaithfulness has been totally paid for. Since Jesus was raised from the dead, He’s returned to the place of honor and blessing that He deserves, but He’s also made it possible for me to experience the Father’s blessing as well! As a Christian, God’s face is turned towards me and that’s all that matters. Now...having the best car or the biggest house, or the respect of others doesn’t matter…because I have God’s favor and blessing! Maybe you’ve never experienced this blessing on your life. But you can…if you want it! All you have to do is confess the sin that is keeping you separated from Him, His death has paid for it, so you’re free to be right with God. It’s the only way to true blessing in your life.
If you’re already a follower of Christ this morning then maybe you’ve forgotten how much God loves you and wants to bless you. When the last time you took time to look at Him in the face. We forget the blessings that God has given us don’t we? That’s why Aaron was told to repeat this blessing to the Israelites often. I want you to turn your face towards the face of God this morning. What do you see? Anger? Disgust? Disappointment? Or do you see the face of your Heavenly Father smiling at you?
Sing: “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”
Okay, look up here…I need your attention, every eye on me, because I want to give you God’s blessing today. I don’t say this enough, but as your pastor, I treasure each and everyone of you. I love you, and I want to give my life to serve you. As God’s representative, I feel led this morning to give you God’s blessing on your life. I want more than anything for you to live a blessed life. For your children to live blessed lives, and the only way you can do that is to seek the face of God. Before you go today…Let me speak this blessing to you before you …
The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’
