Lessons From the Psalms - Psalm 67

[00:00:07] Welcome to Lessons From the Psalms. This is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. On this

[00:00:14] podcast we will be going over the book of Psalms.

[00:00:21] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this Psalm

[00:00:26] today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much

[00:00:30] you truly love each and every one of them. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. This is Psalm 67,

[00:00:39] beginning in verse 1. God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us.

[00:00:50] Say, Lord, that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

[00:00:57] Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you. Oh, let the nations be glad

[00:01:06] and sing for joy. For you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth.

[00:01:15] Say, Lord, let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you.

[00:01:22] Then the earth shall yield her increase. God our own God shall bless us.

[00:01:30] God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

[00:01:37] Friends, this Psalm is very similar to Psalm 65. It sounds an awful lot like David writing this

[00:01:47] Psalm, but David's name is not mentioned. And this is one of the Psalms that are anonymous.

[00:01:55] If it doesn't have a name on it, then it is anonymous. But what it tells me is that during

[00:02:02] this time when David was writing his Psalms that he shared his thoughts and his dreams

[00:02:10] and his ideas of God with those closest to him. And I believe some of these Psalms were basically

[00:02:17] written by people who were very close to King David. Now, let's look at this. And it was

[00:02:24] written to the chief musician, and it was to be performed with stringed instruments. So it's a

[00:02:33] Psalm, and it is a song. But I believe that it was to be played with stringed instruments as well.

[00:02:43] Let's begin with verse one. God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause his face to shine

[00:02:53] upon us. Say, Lord, say, Lord, tells us to meditate on what we just read. And friends,

[00:03:00] Psalm 67 verse one should be all of our goals in life, that we are to be

[00:03:10] God's children. And he's going to bless us. He's going to show mercy toward us. But the key is

[00:03:17] we have to look for him, that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all

[00:03:27] nations. Now this is the author's plea that everyone on earth would come to know God. I want you to

[00:03:37] think about that, that is so powerful and that his goodness and salvation. Now we know if you are

[00:03:44] Christians today that Jesus is our salvation. But before Jesus came, we had to be forgiven

[00:03:54] of our sins. That's one of the purposes of why Jesus came. God knew that man was a fallen

[00:04:05] people, and he knew that a savior would have to come if mankind was to have any chance at all.

[00:04:14] Let's go to verse three. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you.

[00:04:23] Now, like Psalm 65, verses three and five are exactly the same. And basically this is a prophetic

[00:04:33] verse telling us that there will be a day when everyone in the world will praise God.

[00:04:42] Let's go to verse four. O, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you shall judge

[00:04:50] the people righteously and govern the nations on earth. Say, law. Now friends, there's two parts to

[00:04:58] that verse. Let's break them down. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Friends, if we live in

[00:05:06] a Christian country and if the people acknowledge God for who he is, the people are going to be

[00:05:14] glad and they are going to sing for joy. And let's look at the last part. You shall judge

[00:05:21] the people righteously. Friends, always remember that we are going to be held accountable for the

[00:05:29] type of life that we lived here on earth when we breathe our last. God knows everything that

[00:05:37] we do and we will either basically go into heaven if we've received Jesus as our Lord and Savior,

[00:05:48] or we will be eternally away from Jesus if we chose not to do that. But when we are on earth,

[00:05:59] we have certain things that we are to do. And if you do the right things, things that God

[00:06:04] has called you to do, then you will build a heavenly account while you are on earth. I told

[00:06:13] you verse five is identical to verse three. So let's skip to verse six. Then the earth shall yield

[00:06:21] her increase. God, our own God, shall bless us. And friends, this is very simple. You are going

[00:06:30] to be more productive if you know God, if you've given your heart to Jesus, and if you are doing all

[00:06:40] that you can on your job to please God. We will be more productive. We will be happier. And

[00:06:50] God will see the increase. Let's close with verse seven. God shall bless us. And all the ends of

[00:06:59] the earth shall fear him. And once again, we're closing with a prophecy. This has not happened yet,

[00:07:08] but it says all the ends of the earth, meaning every single person alive on earth shall fear him.

[00:07:19] Now friends, I often talk about this, but that doesn't mean we're afraid of God. That means

[00:07:26] that we are in reverence to him and to who he is. God wants to bless his people. If you receive

[00:07:37] his son Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will be showered with blessings. My promise to you.

[00:07:47] Friends, please join me again soon as we take a closer look at Psalm 68.