Title Psalm 67 (2010.8.10)
Contents
Title: God Who Blesses the End of the Earth
Text: (Psalm 67:1~7)
Hymns: 505. for the whole world
Date: August 10, 2010 (Tuesday) 5 am
Venue: Jeonju Yebut Church Small Worship Room
We can find three lessons from this poem.
First, we need to broaden our interest and blessings (vv. 1-2).
One of the characteristics of this poem is that the people who want to receive the blessing are gradually expanding. Looking at (verse 1), we are asking God to bless “us” with grace. It is extended to "the whole world" in (v. 2) and further to "all nations". (Verse 3), in the previous it was referred to as "nations," but later it is expanded to "all nations." (v. 7), “we” in the first part are extended to “the ends of the earth” in the latter.
Love is the basic commandment of Christianity. Care is the seed of love. In the religious sense, the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. I hope you will become believers who sow the seeds of interest widely.
Second, it must be broad and specific at the same time (v. 5).
One of the characteristics of Psalm 67 is that the same words are repeated over and over again. Verse 5 is a repetition of verse 3. This means "I am specifically and strongly praying for blessings to all the ends of the earth", "concentrated", "continuous" and "I am praying earnestly". We always talk about care and love. However, it is often vague and abstract. If you are interested in the other person and want him to be blessed, you need to pray specifically and intensively.
Saying "I love all mankind" is the same as saying "I love no one". Saying "God, do you know all my problems? Please solve them all" is the same as saying "Don't solve any problems" "God, please solve my problem, this problem, this problem" It's not because God doesn't know my problems. My honesty is the problem.
Third, we should be carers, not carers (v. 7).
All children want to get their parents' attention. Even when they become adults, there are people who feel happiness only when they have the same thoughts and give attention to others. Conversely, there are people who find happiness in giving attention. These people are mature people.
The Israelites had a narrow-minded idea of choosing people. If we can sum up the ideology of the chosen people in one word, it is the ideology of “only us”. "Only us are chosen, all other nations are Gentiles" "Only us are saved, none of the other nations are saved."
But Psalm 67 goes beyond “only us.” Beyond us, on the earth, beyond us, all nations, beyond us, all nations, beyond us, all nations, beyond us, on earth, beyond us, to all ends of the earth, with us as our starting point and grace beyond us I pray that light and blessings will spread infinitely. After the cross, the gospel came to be preached to all nations. Psalm 67 shows the expansion of the evangelism in a gradual way.
Please expand the target audience who are interested and want to be blessed. You need to be concerned with magnification specifically, not vaguely and abstractly. We want all of us to be those who care, not those who receive attention.