The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26 NRSV

God wants to bless us. He wants to give us peace and grace. He wants to be able to beam with love and joy over His children. How do we receive this peace? The way God gives us His peace is through a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. We talk with Him and listen through our prayers. We learn more about Him and His ways through studying the Bible. We fellowship with fellow believers to encourage each other and live out our Godly relationship. We practice what He did while he walked on earth: healing, teaching, serving, and sacrificing. These can help bring a feeling of peace, but first and foremost, we just need to be open to God’s peace.

I recall one time when I most felt His peace. When our son was born, he had a heart problem that would need to be corrected; the valve from his heart to his lungs was too narrow. Surgery had to wait until he was around one year old. When the time came, it was only because of my faith in God that I did not worry. I trusted God and the doctors, and a peace enveloped me through this whole time, even while holding my son’s incision shut in the ICU.

Why don’t we accept this peace and blessing more often? We still worry and fret, get angry and outraged, disillusioned and depressed. We let too much of today crowd out eternity. The Seen blocks the Unseen.

We must look beyond our near-term troubles and remember the big picture, that God’s Will will be done and He blesses us with the gift of grace and peace.