Psalm 67:1-2 TPT
1
God, keep us near your mercy-fountain and bless us!
And when you look down on us, may your face beam with joy! [may God smile on us]
Pause in his presence
2
Send us out all over the world so that everyone everywhere
will discover your ways and know who you are and see your power to save.
Mercy is defined as “compassionate treatment for those in distress.” Sometimes people are in distress because of sin and guilt and sometimes because of physical and emotional illness or lack. Mercy is what the Lord has released to anyone who calls upon his name regardless of their distress. In fact, believers are given mercy and grace; Christ gives both at the same time to his own. Mercy is associated with forgiveness and the withholding of judgment. Grace has to do with receiving undeserved blessings. Mercy and Grace are like the arms of God coming together to hug the heart of the wounded soul in order to bring restoration; calling him or her into obedience, discipleship, and new life in Christ. I love God’s hugs, don’t you?
In our passage today, the psalmist prays for God to now use the people to whom he has extended mercy. He asks God to keep believers near by extending the flow of blessing. Then, the psalmist invites God to send his people out to be examples of this vibrant life with the Lord. For those who have invited Christ into their hearts, we have been hugged by Mercy and Grace; we are a new creation made to reveal the presence and power of God to save. The psalmist actually casts a future vision for the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. I want to challenge my readers to focus on Christ’s Commission, today. Jesus told us, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe [obey] everything I have command you. And remember I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mat. 28:19-20). Jesus is the Spiritual King of the world who overcomes evil by ruling in the heart of every person. The believers commission is not to meet the cultural or social demands of the world, but to shine the life of Christ—be examples of discipleship and obedience—so others will come to the King for salvation and new life.
Prayer: Lord, I thank you for your mercy and grace, and the commission you have given believers. I am to reveal your presence in me to the world, because you are the only One who can save the human soul and meet the needs of the world you died to save. In Jesus’ name. Amen.