In Numbes 6 God tells Moses and Aaron how to bless the Israelites. He tells Aaron to say "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord's face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."
I assume Aaron did this. Because we still do it today. Every Sunday our worship ends with these words, we call it the Benediction.
But what does it mean.
I live in Texas where the sun shines every day. But I grew up in Michigan, where the sun doesn't shine every day. Actually, I remember a November when the sun only came out 3 days in the entire month. When you go a couple weeks without seeing the sun, you forget what it looks like, you forget what it feels like.
The part of this blessing that speaks loudest to me is "may the Lord's face shine upon you."
In life we sometimes go for long periods of time without experiencing God. We forget what it feels like to be in God's presence. God warms our soul like the sun warms our skin.
The blessing, the prayer that I end every service with is this, that we would all feel God's presence every day of our lives. That we would never forget how good God is and how good it feels to be loved so much that Jesus would die on a cross for us.
If I had one wish for all of humanity it would be that. That everyone would feel God's face shining on them everyday.
If that ever happened, hunger and violence would cease to exist.
If that ever happened, we would be in heaven.
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