Wishing You Well

Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”

Have you ever stopped to consider the way we normally wish people well? Typically we use trite terms like “have a fun time” or “have a nice day.” Often I wonder just what a “nice day” is and how I would know it if I had one! Though our society seems full of these kind of well-wishers, is a “good day” or a “nice day” the best we can hope for? If your standard for today is that it will be good or nice, you will be working hard for the wrong thing!

At the end of Numbers chapter 6, we find a good way to wish people well. Any significant day will start the same way as verses 24-26. How do these verses start? “The LORD.” If you are depending on the Lord; if the Lord is your basis for your day; if the Lord is the One keeping you-guarding, protecting you-then you have the right basis for your day. If “good” or “nice” is your basis, you will spend your time at the whims of life and emotion, and you will be held captive by your dependence on other people to make your day. Although we have heard the statement often, it is true: the safest place to be is where God wants you.

So what do these verses mean? In verse 24, the word “keep” has the idea of guarding, protecting, hedging about. The phrase “make his face shine upon thee” in verse 25 sounds like the modern day phrase “someone is beaming.” What does it mean if someone is beaming? It means he is smiling with a bright glow on his face. Thus, if the Lord is smiling on you and your day that is all you need! And if you have God’s grace, you do not need the world’s “good.”

The words in verse 26, “give thee peace,” remind me of my tall daddy (my grandfather, Bill Rice) who used to say, “I have peace in my heart.” Why is peace important? Everything in the world is competing with the peace in your heart. Things may not be peaceful on the outside, but you can have and know God’s peace on the inside! That is the way to face your day and wish someone else well.