Numbers 6 has been almost entirely about the Nazirite vow but it closes with six verses that contain a benediction that the priests are to pronounce over the congregation of Israel. I believe there is a connection between this priestly blessing and the Nazirite vow, for even though the entire congregation of Israel has not taken this vow, Israel as a nation is "set apart" (the Hebrew "nazir") for the Lord. The Lord said to Israel, "You are to be holy to Me because I, the Lord, am holy, and have set you apart from the nations to be My own." (Leviticus 20:26) Of all the nations in the world at that time, Israel alone worshiped the one true God and this consecrated Israel for His service.
The Lord not only set this believing nation apart from all others, but He sets individual believers apart for Himself for special blessing and sanctification. King David said of himself---an individual believer: "Know that the Lord has set apart His faithful servant for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him." (Psalm 4:6) You and I can say the same thing about ourselves that David said about himself: "The Lord has set me---His faithful servant---apart for Himself. The Lord hears when I call to Him." If we began every session of prayer by saying these words of affirmation to ourselves, I bet we'd pray with far more confidence!
In addition to being consecrated (set apart) to the Lord for our faith, the Lord places a calling on each of our lives. Before we are born, He has plans for us. He knows what He intends to call us to do. He knows whether or not we will answer that call. An example of this is the calling of the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah's life was not easy. He prophesied for many years to people who largely ignored and ridiculed him. At one point a plot was hatched to take his very life but the Lord rescued him. Knowing Jeremiah faced so much opposition, the Lord reassured and encouraged him in his work by reminding him that He knew him before the first cell of his body was ever formed in the womb and that long before he existed the Lord had already called him to be a prophet. These are the Lord's words to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5) The Lord says the same thing to you and me. He says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I knew whether you would put your faith in Me and, knowing that you would, I set you apart for My service. I have placed a calling upon your life." The Lord doesn't place the same calling on each life but make no mistake: if you are a child of God, He has something for you to do.
Now let's take a look at the benediction the priests are to pronounce over the children of Israel---over the people the Lord foreknew would call upon Him in faith, over the people He planned to set apart for Himself because of their faith, over the people upon whom He placed a great calling. This benediction shows how much God loves and wants to bless those who are consecrated to Him by their faith.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.' So they will put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.'" (Numbers 6:22-27) The heart's desire of the Lord is to bless people. He can't bless sin but He can bless faithfulness. He intends to "keep" the faithful, and in the original language this word means "to hedge about, to watch over, to save, to preserve, to treasure up". To further illustrate what "keep" means, we can think of it like this: the Lord saves us when we place our faith in Him and the Lord keeps us saved. The saving and the keeping are His work, not ours. The only thing we did was to believe; He does everything else.
The Lord wants to be gracious toward those who love Him. We naturally want to be gracious toward those who love us, don't we? We can't really help caring about people who care about us. The Lord naturally wants to be gracious to those who love Him.
The Lord desires to give peace to those who are His. The world around us isn't always peaceful. Our personal lives and professional lives aren't always peaceful. But even when it seems like everything is falling down around us, the Lord is able to speak peace to our hearts. He is not only able, but willing to fill our hearts with peace, and this is why the prophet Isaiah praised the Lord by saying, "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You." (Isaiah 26:3) Very little about the life of Isaiah could be said to be peaceful: he preached a message of repentance year after year after year with nobody taking heed to his words. The Lord warned him from the outset that nobody was going to listen but He called Isaiah to plead with the people anyway; the Lord in His righteousness must make the invitation even if no one wants to accept it. Isaiah's calling was a difficult one but he had peace in his heart---the peace only the Lord can give.
King David was also a man whose life was rarely peaceful, yet he praised the Lord for the blessings He bestows on those who are His: "The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace." (Psalm 29:11) David had peace in his heart even when the world was crashing down around him, even when there were plots against his life and plots to remove him from the throne of Israel. The majority of the people who sought to betray David were people related to him either by blood or by marriage, and this is the type of betrayal that hurts the most, but no matter who or what came against him he found strength and peace in the Lord.
You and I can have the blessings pronounced in today's benediction. The Lord longs to bestow these blessings on us. Let's be faithful to Him. Let's turn to Him for every need. Everything we need to successfully and victoriously navigate this life and this fallen world is found in Him. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He turn His face toward you and give you peace. Amen.
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