1May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, 2that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
Notice the progression of thought here. God blesses us and the nations find out about the Lord. When we allow the Lord to work in our lives, then the nations will see the glory of God. I hope that is your prayer. I hope you want God’s grace and blessing and presence. I know I do. As I talk with widows of soldiers, often the one thing they would want from God would be a few moments with their husbands. Do we want God’s presence in our lives? This is a package deal. His grace and blessing come with His face. It can be scary to be face to face with the Lord. No sin can flourish there. But God’s grace is not given to us in order for us to hoard it. We are not to stack it in our spiritual house to the point that we can’t move around. Grace in given to us so we can pass it along to the nations. God’s purpose includes blessing us AND blessing the world through us. We must never be content to just receive God’s grace. We must grow and allow His grace to flow through us to a hurting and dying world.
The Arnold Journey 