Blessing

The LORD Blesses & Keeps You

6.12.22 [Numbers 6:22-27] River of Life (Trinity Sunday)

2 Th. 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. Amen. Our world is noisy. Political shouting matches. Passionate protests. Apocalyptic predictions. Conspiracy theories. It almost seems like the calm conversation has gone the way of the do-do. We live in a noisy world. And try as we might, it’s hard to escape the noise.

Everywhere we go there is someone looking to get a word in. Turn on the TV, and there is someone telling us what we should think, how we should talk, or what we should do. Your phone dings and buzzes and rings so often even the phone manufacturers thought it was too much. More times than not, it’s just more noise. In your mailbox & inbox complete strangers shout out at you for your immediate attention or urgent action. Even when you go for a drive, you can’t avoid the noise. Billboards don’t just advertise one thing. They change and call for your attention multiple times in a quarter mile. Fellow drivers tell you their life’s story and share their every opinion they have with obnoxious and even obscene bumper stickers. Then you finally arrive at your destination to do some shopping or have a nice meal. When the bill comes, they clamor for you to take a quick survey about your experience. We live in a noisy world with few quiet corners.

Because our world is noisy, because we live in an age of talk, it has impacted the power and value we ascribe to words. Talk is cheap. And it's getting more and more worthless by the minute. That’s a real problem for us, as Christians. Not the noisy-ness of this world, but our reaction to all the noise. We can treat all talk as cheap. If we do, we’ll be forfeiting some wonderful blessed words from God.

These wonderful words of blessing are well-known around here. Nearly every single worship service we have held here at River of Life has ended with a version of these words from Numbers 6. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. These are the best known words from the entire book of Numbers, and might be the most repeated in the entire Old Testament. The challenge we face is not awareness, but appropriation. We must not only know, but believe these words.

That was the challenge the people of Israel faced, too. For more than 600 years, the blessing that Israel cherished was the blessing that the Lord gave to Abraham and its repetition to Isaac & Jacob. In Genesis 12, the Lord promised Abraham that he would bless him and make his name and descendants great. All peoples on earth would be blessed through him. This blessing was a treasured truth for the children of Israel.

But now, two years after being rescued from slavery in Egypt and on their way to the very land that the Lord had promised to Abraham’s descendants, the Lord had a new blessing for them. It’s beautiful.

Each poetic phrase is packed full of goodness, love, and devotion. The first line is three words long. The next, five. The final, seven. Even in our english rendering the Lord’s blessing grows & expands— telling us how the Lord is moving toward us & achieving great things. The Lord bless you—giving you all the things you need for body and life, filling you with his wisdom, his strength, his joy and his peace. The Lord keep you—defending you against everything that might seek to take those blessings from you. The Lord make his face shine on you—smiling upon you as you enjoy his creation and design, encouraging you as you face all kinds of challenges. The Lord be gracious to you—blessing you with good things you cannot earn and even those you’d never dream of. The Lord turn his face toward you—giving you personal attention and care, listening to your prayers, supplying you with exactly what you need at exactly the right moment. The Lord give you peace—calm confidence that everything is going according to his perfect plan.

This is a beautiful blessing. These are precious words, not the cheap talk we’ve grown accustomed to. How could anyone who is blessed by the Lord think that they’re being deprived or short-changed? How could anyone who is blessed by the Lord grumble or complain?

How could anyone whom the Lord is keeping, keep on worrying? Or be so distressed by the events of a single day when God never changes?

How could someone who is basking in the glow of God’s face feel frightened or lost or think that they’re neglected or forsaken? How could someone who has received the grace of God be so quick to become angry, so quick to nurse grudges, or so slow to forgive?

How could anyone who hears that the Lord is turning his face to you individually, think and act like it’s all up to them, or hedge their bets and put their confidence in anyone less powerful than the Lord? How could anyone who has been gifted his peace that passes all understanding, constantly demand that the Lord explain himself and his ways to them in a way that they find personally satisfying?

I ask those questions somewhat tongue in cheek. Because while you and I know we shouldn’t have second thoughts about God’s wisdom or love, we still do. Even though we have received God’s blessings, we still think, talk, act, and react in ways that demonstrate we don’t trust God’s promises. Israel was no different though.

Even before the Lord gave them this blessing, he had been blessing them. He had blessed them with redemption and freedom, direction and daily bread. They were his people and he was their God. He was close by them in the form of a cloud by day and fire at night. They were never alone. Never forsaken. Never left to fend for themselves.

But they still grumbled and complained. They still questioned God’s plan and his wisdom and whom he appointed to be his leaders. At the foot of Mt. Sinai, they worshipped the golden calf as the God who had delivered them. Even after the Lord feeding millions of mouths with manna, bread from heaven, they still complained about it—calling it miserable. They still doubted that God could and would provide them the water they needed to survive. When they first arrived at the Promised Land they were overcome with fear, not joy.

Even when they finally occupied the Promised Land, they still kept worrying & panicking, forgetting & doubting God’s wisdom & love.

The book of Judges shows us an addict-like cycle of faithlessness. When things are good, they worship just about any Baal or Asherah they can find—just because it seems to be helping their neighbors. Then trouble comes and after a while they come crawling back to God. God sends a deliverer or a judge and they worship the Lord for a little while and fall back into old habits all over again.

Israel spent around 1,000 years in the Promised Land. After the first 500 years, they splintered into rival nations. After another 500 years, the northern tribes of Israel were gone and the best and brightest of Judah was in Babylon. So much changed during that time. Except the Lord. The Lord continued to keep his promises to his people. He blessed them even when they praised Baal for those blessings. He blessed them even when they forgot about him. He kept them even when they were in Babylonian captivity. He brought them back to live in that land he promised to Abraham.

God blessed his people because he is (Ex. 34:6-7) the God of faithful & steadfast love, not because his people were faithful or righteous. He blessed Israel because he promised to bless all through Israel. That’s what he did in sending his Son. God’s words have always produced God’s actions. His talk is never cheap. In fact, his talk has always been incredibly costly. God promised to be gracious to Adam and Eve back in the Garden of Eden. And even though people only got more wicked, God remained faithful and loving.

He kept all his promises. He made his face shine upon us by sending his Son Jesus Christ, who is (Jn. 1:14) full of grace and truth to make his dwelling among us. God himself took on weak flesh and blood and not only that, he was treated as if he were wicked, (2 Cor. 5:21) becoming sin for us and dying the death our corrupt rebelliousness deserved. God did all this because he is gracious to us. The Lord turned his back on his one and only beloved Son, allowing him to be punished for our iniquities, so that he could look on us with favor. The Lord soaked up all our punishment so that he could give us eternal peace.

These are not just words. These words are his track-record, his current activity, and his future plans. Not just in the Bible, but throughout your days as well. When you look back at your life, you see it don’t you? Being a child of God doesn’t mean you live a charmed life. It means that throughout your life the Triune God of faithful and steadfast love has remained close by you. His face has been turned toward you, even when your attention hasn’t always been on him & his Word. Even when you were restless he gave you peace.

The Lord has blessed you. He’s provided for you in so many ways you didn’t expect, in ways you still cannot explain. Blessings have appeared like bread from heaven when you needed it most.

The Lord has kept you. He has sent his angels to guard you from dangers you never even considered. He has prevented you from pursuing things that would only have harmed you. He has healed you in ways doctors can’t explain. He has answered prayers and done better than you could have ever drawn up. In a world full of noise, he has never treated your prayers like they were just noise.

The Lord has been gracious to you, forgiving your many and varied sins. Each time your heart is broken by your sin, he is quick to bind you up with the good news of his forgiveness. The Lord has put his name on you. In Baptism, the Triune God claimed you as his own. Today, he assures you of that abiding & faithful love. Rom. 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.