“May 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.”
– Numbers 6:24–26
What an awesome prayer of blessing. This is what the priest would pray over God’s people. And it’s picked up at different points in Scripture. One of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 67, basically recounts this. “May God be gracious to you and bless you, cause his face to shine upon you, so that his ways may be known on earth and his saving power known among all nations.”
This Verse Praises God for Keeping and Holding Us
Just think about this picture of God blessing us, keeping us, holding on to us, causing his face to shine upon us. Just get that image in your mind, for the God of the universe to cause his face to shine, to smile upon you and your life, his favor to be yours, his grace to be yours, which makes obvious sense because we don’t deserve this from God. The holy God of the universe, in light of our sinfulness and rebellion against him, for his face to be shining on us, that is pure, unadulterated grace, mercy. For the Lord to lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace.
This passage beckons a confident comfort for followers of Christ. We are blessed and kept by God. He is gracious to us and has given us His peace.
Numbers 6:24–26 Prays for God to Shine in Our Lives
So I just wanna pray this blessing over you today as you’re listening to this. I wanna pray for this for you, even as I pray for this for my own life, for my family, for co-laborers around me, for brothers and sisters in the church I’m a part of. I just wanna pray this over you and pray that it would be reality so that God’s name and glory, goodness and grace might indeed shine through your life today.
So I pray this. May God bless you. In every way. Not just physically, but spiritually, relationally, emotionally, with a joy and satisfaction in him that supersedes even physical circumstances, even walking through difficult times. May you know the blessing of God. May he keep you. Might he hold onto you. May he uphold you with his righteous right hand today and enable you to persevere through everything you have going on in your life right now. Might he keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and God smile upon your life today. May his face radiate toward you and be gracious to you. Might you know his grace in ever-abounding ways.
Numbers 6:24–26 Encourages Us to Find Peace in God
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you today. May you know you are seen, known, and loved by God, cared for by God. And may he give you peace, a peace that passes all understanding, and guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Might you know the peace of God in a very tumultuous world, amidst tumultuous busy schedules, amidst all kinds of things going in all kinds of different directions. May you know the peace of God today.
May it be so according to Numbers 6:24–26 in Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
