PSALM‬ ‭67‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭


“May God be merciful and bless us. May his face smile with favor on us. Interlude May your ways be known throughout the earth, your saving power among people everywhere. May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. Let the whole world sing for joy, because you govern the nations with justice and guide the people of the whole world. Interlude May the nations praise you, O God. Yes, may all the nations praise you. Then the earth will yield its harvests, and God, our God, will richly bless us. Yes, God will bless us, and people all over the world will fear him.”
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Psalms‬ ‭67‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭NLT

There is a curious emphasis of David’s placed upon the expansive nature of praise for God and his blessings. Curiously, it is not a relegated praise that is reserved for Israel alone. We see no concept that Israel is to be the nation of all people. Instead, we see that Israel is to lead other nations in the single minded praise of God. This is the ancient direction of God’s purpose among the nations. He wishes to be seen as superior to their idols. He views them as particularly bad manager of humanity and his purpose in Israel was to elevate them out of the chaos reeked by these false gods. Yet, there is never an impression that these nations convert to Israelites. Only that they would turn from their gods and acknowledge the one true god. In many ways, the great commission is similar in so much as the expectation is clear to acknowledge this without the need to convert into Judaism. It seems obvious that praising God would acknowledge this intention and desire on his part, and playing our role in making that happen. We should desire that all nations and every creed submit itself to God through Jesus. Though this would naturally cause reform where demonic ideology has hurt institutions, individuality would flourish. It is a thing worth hoping for and incorporating into our worship.


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