A Benediction

CLICK HERE TO READ Numbers 6:22-27

​Daily Devotion from Brother Mike:

This piece always hangs over our front door, inside the house.

I cannot remember when, where, how, or from whom we got this piece, but it serves well as a benediction for our guests who leave through our front door.

This is the beginning of the Aaronic Blessing found in chapter 6 of Numbers. This is the blessing that Aaron and his sons and the priests that followed them would give to the people of Israel. I learned these verses as the UMYF (United Methodist Youth Fellowship) Benediction:

"May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace,
both now and forever more."

This is a beautiful blessing that I have used many times for weddings and for funerals. The imagery is outstanding:
"May the Lord make his face shine upon you." (What would it feel like to have God’s face shining on you? This makes me think of John vision of The New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:23 – “The city did not need the sun or the moon for the glory of God was its light and the Lamb was its lamp.”)

"May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you." Translation:  May the Lord look at you face to face. (God is going to look us straight, eye to eye, and we are going to see the love in God’s eyes and the joy on God’s face. And we'll know that God thinks of us as God’s own dear, sweet child. This will, of course, give us peace – the now and forever kind of peace.)

So, the next time you come over to my house and you are about to leave, look up and receive this blessing:
"May the Lord bless you and keep you ..."

Brother Mike