The Priestly Blessing at the end of Numbers 6 is one of the most beautiful scriptures in the Bible. God told Moses to tell Aaron to bless the people of Israel with a very special blessing.
“May the Lord bless you and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show his favor and give you his peace.
Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.” (NASB)
All blessings spoken, prayed, or thought in God’s name carry the power to change those being blessed and those doing the blessing.
The power of this blessing is understanding that God blesses me in my blessing of others. The same is true in my forgiving, extending grace, and loving as He desires. What a floodgate opened when I allowed this blessing to wash over my heart!
This blessing may have been for the Israelites, but Christ opened the door for me to become one of God’s children and receive His blessing when He chose to come, to love, to die, to rise, and to bring God’s Holy Spirit to a world desperately in need of blessing.
God knows blessing others in His name changes who I am. Christ expanded on these scriptures when He taught me to love, forgive, and bless my enemies. That turns my world and theirs upside down, and that is precisely what God intends. God’s blessing comes when I am willing to be turned upside down, and it brings a peace that defies description.
I don’t have to understand the why or the how of this cycle of blessing, but I must be willing to let God open my heart to possibilities I cannot imagine on my own. Nothing opens the gate to my heart more powerfully than blessing others. It is the heart of the Priestly Blessing, and it is the key to drawing nearer to God. I cannot live in a vacuum and expect God to pour blessings down upon me. He created me to connect to Him and to others, and there is no better way to connect than to bless. No one knows that better than God.
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