Parents: Have you ever tried to control events in your child’s life? How successful were you? My assumption is that you found controlling everything to be quite difficult because so much occurs outside of our ability to control. Knowing the reality of this uncontrollable world, what can parents do to release their children into the hands of God? Well, they can pray the Priestly Blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26 over children as a means to bless and release the uncontrollable to God.
To begin, let’s consider the definition of blessing. Cambridge dictionary reveals three different types of meanings for the word blessing. One of them is a lucky situation, meaning a blessing is something that is extremely lucky or something that makes you happy. A second is considering a blessing to be approval. Meaning someone gives you approval to complete an action.
However, the third definition gives insight into how parents can bless their children. This definition involves considering the word blessing through a religious perspective, as a request by a priest for God to take care of a person or group of people. This definition of blessing helps us consider how to pray over the uncontrollable events in our children’s lives. Rather than viewing a blessing as taking control of the uncontrollable, Scripture tells us to bless to release the uncontrollable to God.
Let’s unpack the priestly blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26 and reveal the blessings and five specific things we can pray for, in particular, things we cannot control.
Let’s begin by looking at Numbers 6:22-27.
Then the Lord said to Moses,
“Tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel with this special blessing:
May the Lord bless you and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’
Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my name, I myself will bless them.”
Before unpacking the prayer, let’s consider what was going on before this prayer.
God promised to bless Abraham and his descendants back in Genesis. Then, in the book of Exodus, God freed these descendants, the Israelites, from 400 years of slavery in Egypt through powerful miracles. Well, the book of Numbers brings us to this journey following the miracle of the Exodus. The Israelites are making their journey to the promised land.
We can break up the book of Numbers into two parts: Part one, chapters 1 through 10:10, shares about the preparations to travel to the promised land. Then, Part two, verses 10:11 through 36:13, tells the journey from Israel to the promised land. The Priestly Prayer is found in part one, right after the tribes are counted and organized and receive instructions for their journey.
Many who read the Priestly Prayer wonder if God was informing the Priests to pray so their people would be blessed. Well, Dr. Tony Evans says, “If God is determined to bless you, no one’s words to the contrary can overrule him.”1
So why would God want the priests to pray this blessing over the people? Well, they were about to embark on a journey with many uncontrollable events. Therefore, God taught Moses how to pray for others by declaring various characteristics of God, reminding him that he can release the uncontrollable to God.
Let’s break down this prayer in five parts through the acrostic BLESS.
1. Bodyguard
When praying a blessing for others, we begin by praying that God would be a bodyguard over them.
Have you ever been in a circumstance where you needed divine protection? Yes, I believe we have all been!
Have you ever doubted God’s protection? Well, if you have, you are not alone, as the Bible tells us many stories of people who struggled to believe God was a protector. In Numbers chapter 13, we read of the scouts reporting what they saw in the promised land. They shared about the beauty of the land, as well as the powerful people who ruled the land. This caused many to doubt God’s ability to protect them. However, Caleb believed in God! He believed God would protect them and could lead them into the promised land. As a result, Caleb and Joshua were able to enter the promised land while the others were not. We need to be like Caleb and remember that God is our bodyguard!
God is described as a protector throughout Scripture. Phrases found in the Psalms allow us to see that God keeps watch over us, is a shield around us, and is our defender.
Many biblical heroes experienced God’s protection. Moses was kept safe while floating down the Nile River in a basket. A widow’s boy was resurrected because Elijah prayed to God. Rahab was completely protected when the walls of Jericho fell. Daniel was not even touched by the lions after being thrown into the lion’s den. And so many more!
Scripture shows God protects His people, meaning you can confidently pray for someone else that God would be their bodyguard.
2. Light of God’s Glory
Now we’re going to pray the “L”, for the light of God’s glory to shine through others.
This phrase “light of God’s glory” means being so knowledgeable of God’s glory that it shines out of a person’s face! 2 Corinthians 4:6 declares “For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” What does it mean to know the glory of God? It means to know God and His amazing characteristics! The more you know God, the more you shine His glory. Well, who is God?
He is:
Loving - The essence of God is love! This is evident through His care in creating humanity and His desire to have a relationship with us.
Personal - Throughout the Scriptures, we read of people communing with God, meaning we can know and have a relationship with God.
All-powerful - He can do anything, and nothing is impossible for Him!
Constant - God never changes! When everything else in this world is not consistent, isn’t it comforting that God is constant?
Eternal - God is timeless. He has always been and will always be.
Spirit - He is spiritual, meaning not composed of matter and without a physical nature. And as such, He is present everywhere within his creation.
Perfect - He is holy, without any fault!
Have you ever met someone who knows God’s attributes well? If so, that person shines! People who know God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength radiate it in their faces and are described as just different. As such, we can pray for the people we care about that they would truly know the character of God—that their face would shine bright for all to see, as this knowledge informs them that God is truly glorious.
So, we bless to release the uncontrollable to God by praying that God would be a bodyguard and for his glorious light to shine on others.
3. Extend His grace
Next, we pray the “E”, for God to extend His grace.
God deals with His people not by their merit or worthiness, but by their need through his goodness and generosity.2 God does not seek His own good, but the good of others!
We see this type of goodness from God in two ways. First, through God’s common grace. Have you ever wondered why all people have the capacity to be good? Or to do good? That is common grace. All people are made in the image of God and can do good things. Another aspect of common grace is the gifts God bestows on all people. All people experience rain from the sky, resulting in growing plants for food or showers. Even people who do not believe in God receive this amazing grace of God.
Another way we see the goodness of God’s grace is through salvation. Paul writes of God’s grace in Ephesians 1:7, “He (God) is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.” He writes further in Ephesians 2:8, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”
Whenever you pray that God would extend his grace to another person, you are asking God that the person will experience all of God’s grace—that they would receive the benefits in their daily life through common grace and that they would be saved through God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness.
4. Supernatural support
Our first “S” is that we bless to release the uncontrollable to God by praying that others would experience God’s supernatural support.
Can you think of a time when you received something that was unexplainable? That was God’s supernatural support. These are times when God is working behind the scenes to make events occur in your life.
There are hundreds of examples in scripture where God gives supernatural support to His people. In Numbers chapter 22, we find an amazing story of God’s supernatural power. The many victories of the Israelites spread throughout the land, causing King Balak to be terrified by all the Israelites had done. So he called a diviner, Balaam, to come and curse the people of God. Even though Balaam was a non-Israelite prophet, he heard from God and learned the Israelites were blessed by God and could not be cursed. While on a journey with Balak’s officials, God supernaturally supported the Israelites by speaking through a donkey to ensure God’s people were protected! This caused Balaam to lie face down and worship God.
Why could no one curse the Israelites? Well, because God had given a blessing to Abraham. This is evidence that if God wants to bless people, nothing can stop Him. God chose to bless the Israelites, and it wasn’t based on their behavior, as we know they crumbled and doubted God many times. This story reminds us to pray that God would give favor to others so they can supernaturally accomplish anything!
5. Serenity
So, we bless to release the uncontrollable to God by praying that God would be a bodyguard to others, shine his glorious light on them, extend his grace to them, and give them supernatural support. Lastly, we pray the second “S”, that God would give them serenity.
On the night Jesus was betrayed, He informed His disciples that He would leave them the gift of the Holy Spirit. He describes the Holy Spirit as an advocate who would never leave. This gift, along with the rest of the triune God, would be the giver of great peace.
Beyond giving the spirit, Jesus also promised that there would be trials in this life. As such, we need divine peace. Peace in scripture is described as hope and reassurance of something beyond this world. David in Psalm 23 describes the peace of God as green pastures, still waters, and being in a shepherd’s care. We think David was at the end of his life when he wrote this psalm. Even after a life full of sadness, running, and all-around chaos, David understood that his God was the giver of great serenity. We, too, can consider God as the giver of great peace and pray serenity over others.
Now that we know how to bless, who do we bless? Well, God desires us to bless those we love and those we find it hard to love. The priestly blessing is a powerful prayer to utilize when praying for anyone else.
I have a personal story on the power of praying the priestly blessing. When I was growing up, my mom would say something to me every day when she dropped me off at school. And I remember thinking, oh goodness, mom, this is silly. Now, as an adult and understanding the words she said over me, I think something completely different!
She would say:
“May the Lord bless you and keep you
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.”
As an adult, I understand my mom was releasing my school day to God. She couldn’t be with me and was asking God to take care of the uncontrollable. She was also asking God to take control of the rest of my life, including my salvation. God honored my mom’s daily prayer in many ways. One of the significant ways God honored her prayer was when I was four years old, on March 5th, I asked Jesus into my heart. Of course, I owe this to God, but I’m aware of how God used these prayers of blessings from my parents to ensure my eternity would be in heaven.
Right now, take a minute and “BLESS” your children. If you do not have children, “bless” someone you love or someone who is hard to love.
Pray that God would be a bodyguard protecting your child.
Pray that God would shine his light on your child as they grow in knowledge of the glory of God.
Pray that God will extend his grace to your child through common grace and salvation.
Pray that God would provide supernatural support in your child’s life, working behind the scenes to give them favor.
Lastly, pray that God would give your child serenity in this difficult world.
You’ll be amazed at how much peace you’ll receive and how you probably won’t need to do superstitious things anymore during uncontrollable situations. Why? Because you have learned to BLESS to release the uncontrollable to God.
1 Evans, Tony. The Tony Evans Bible Commentary. Nashville, TN: Holmon Reference, 2019. Evans, p. 429.
2 Erikson, Millard. Christian Theology second edition. Grand Rapids, MI: B & H Academic, 2012. Erikson, location 6715.