So that...

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So that...
A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Psalm 67:1-2
 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
   and make his face shine on us
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
   your salvation among all nations.

I love the many blessing and apostolic prayers found in the pages of the bible. I like to use them when I pray for people or to end letters that I write. This one I like because, so often we want God to bless what we are doing when really He blesses us to further His kingdom purposes through our lives. He is gracious and blesses and His face shine upon us so that.... His ways are made known on the earth and his salvation reaches the nations. That puts a whole new perspective on the me me me attitude of many of us who what to be blessed by God. While we may enjoy the blessings that we receive we need to be asking how is God wanting to use this blessing to make his ways known on the earth? I don’t think we touch that very often. We want God to bless us to prove that He does indeed love us. If you keep the perspective that His purpose for blessing is so that His ways may be known,  one can start to look at how many of his blessings come in packages that we don’t even acknowledge. For example the peace that I have in a particular trial or season of hardship. Yes the peace directly blesses me but what is it also doing for those who are observing how I go through the difficulty of life as a believer.
His blessing us is not so we can one day say ta-daa I have it all - see now I am blessed. I have a house, a car, a job, a mate, two kids, a dog a cat and a gerbil. We may or may not get blessed with the American dream.  David as a shepherd was blessed by God with the trials of having to deal with lions and bears that came to steal his sheep. God allowed him to practice with lions and bears to prepare him to one day face the biggest badest giant in the land named Goliath. The lions and bears my not have seemed like blessings at the time but they were. God blessed him by preparing him with skills and faith that he would need in the future. God made his ways known through David on the earth when he said in 1 Samuel 17: 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”   Some of the things we are dealing with in our life can’t be reconciled in the light of our current circumstances. They can only be reconciled in the light of what is yet to be. Who are you or I to say what tools or blessings that God is presently using to prepare us for His future purpose.  
Things to Ponder:
Am I allowing my present circumstances to work Gods character into my life? ____________
Is my view of “Blessing” shallow allowing only for things that make me happy or feel good?
Is my view of Blessing - getting my own way rather than that God’s ways may be made known?
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Help me expand my understanding about the purpose your blessings in my life. Some of the things I am currently facing seem difficult and not very pleasant. Help me to allow them to produce the desired results for your present and future purposes in and through my life. Make your ways known in the earth through the abundance of ways that you choose to pour out your blessing through my life.