The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.
Many Christians hear that at the end of almost every church service. Hearing it so often, are there times when it goes in one ear and out the other? There are for me.
Or perhaps there are times when you hear the blessing, and it doesn’t sound much like a blessing. It seems more like the well-wishes you’d get from people on social media. Sending positive thoughts. Hang in there. Blessings. Those words are empty . . . and hollow. The person sending you positive thoughts on social media doesn’t have any power to effect change in your life.
Is that what’s going on with the blessing at the end of the church service? Is the pastor simply wishing that God will bless you before he sends you on your way out the door?
Dear Christian, know this: The blessing at the end of the service isn’t the pastor’s blessing. He’s speaking the words, yes, but it’s God himself doing the blessing. It isn’t the pastor wishing that the Lord bless you—no. This is God himself saying these words—what he has done, is doing, and will continue to do until the day he calls you home to heaven.
This is God himself making these promises—to you, specifically. And these are the promises of our God: to be right here with you through all things. Even when it doesn’t look like things are going well for you. God’s promises don’t depend on you. They don’t depend on me. They depend entirely on God.
He says this:
“I have not abandoned you. I am blessing you and keeping you—for your eternal, spiritual good. I am working everything that is happening to you right now—no matter what it is—for your spiritual good.
“Even if it looks like everything is falling apart around you, my promise to you stands. It will not be shaken because I am the one making it. Even now, I am blessing you. Even now, I am keeping you. I have not left your side; I have not turned my face away from you.
“My face is shining upon you—I am smiling upon you. Yes, you. Why? Because I turned my face away from my Son, Jesus. I forsook him on the cross. He shed his blood there for you, to wash away all of your sins and cover you with his righteousness. Because of him—his perfect life and innocent death—you’re my child. I’ve put my name on you. You are mine.
“And if ever you begin to wonder, if ever you begin to doubt, go back to my Word. Go back to the promises I’ve made and kept, which make it absolutely clear to you—you are my child. I love you. I care for you. As my child, you have my favor and you are my delight.
“Does that negate all suffering and sorrows and keep you from experiencing any heartache, troubles, or difficulties? No. And yet—through all of those trials and tribulations—you have peace. I need you to know that.
“That’s the promise I am making to you. It isn’t me sending positive thoughts, well-wishes, or empty words. No. I stand by my word, and I mean what I say. This is my promise to you: No matter what, I will bless and keep you. My face is shining on you. I am gracious to you. I am looking on you with my favor and I am giving you my peace. You. Are. Blessed.”
Dear Christian, I need to hear God’s promises in his Word and sacraments. You need them too. Those reassurances and reminders that we are forgiven and loved by God. That we’re his children. That we’re not alone, but he goes with us every step of the way. We have peace with God—a peace won for us by our Savior.
Knowing what our God promises us—and that he means what he says—changes everything. It leads us, as God’s children, to see the world and our circumstances differently. We see that we can rejoice in all things—even in our suffering, in those times when we ask ourselves, “How? How is this going to be okay? How am I blessed by God?”
How? Because God assures us—even now—he is blessing us. Even now, he is keeping us in his loving embrace. He has not abandoned us; he is right here with us, and he is smiling on us. God is gracious to us, treating us as his dearly loved children. And because we are his dearly loved children, he looks on us with favor and gives us his peace. We need that. We need to know that we are blessed by our God. We need to hear that every single day.
So, dear Christian . . .
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.
Using the words of the Aaronic blessing, The Lord Bless You is a brief, inspirational book that explains what it means to be blessed by God. Personal prayers that fit many different situations are also included in this comforting devotional resource.
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Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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