“The Lord bless you and keep you.” (Num. 6:22)
Expanded Passage: Numbers 6:22-23
St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration of the patron saint of Ireland. Yet St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish. He was a sixteen-year-old boy from Roman Britain who was kidnapped and taken to Ireland to be a slave. He managed to escape and make his way home. Later he willingly returned to Ireland to share the good news of Christianity with the countrymen who had previously enslaved him. St. Patrick blessed his former persecutors by establishing schools, churches, and monasteries around the country.
The Israelites, on the other hand, had escaped Egyptian slavery only to wander around the desert for forty years because of their disobedience. In Moses’ last days, he taught the priests a prayer of blessing beginning with the words, “The Lord bless you and keep you.” Despite leading a difficult group of people, Moses’ last words before his death were words of blessing. He asked God to bless, keep, be gracious, and give them peace as they began a new journey into the Promised Land without him at their helm.
We may never be sent to bless our persecutors or lead a rebellious people for forty long years, but like St. Patrick and Moses, it is our duty as Christians to bless those around us—those who lead us whether kind or harsh, those we lead whether deserving or not, and all who need to hear the good news.
Pray a blessing over someone today.
Beth Gormong is a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University (IN) and serves at Wesleyan Publishing House. She spends her free time at the library reading and writing.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
