Psalm 67
Psalm 67, A Missionary Psalm
Introduction
Psalm 67 is titled, To the Chief Musician. On Stringed Instruments. A Psalm. A Song. This title matters because it tells us that the psalm was prepared for public worship. It was given to the chief musician, and it was arranged for stringed instruments, meaning it was meant to be sung among the gathered people of God with musical accompaniment. The psalm is both A Psalm and A Song, which means it contains both inspired doctrine and worshipful praise. It teaches the mind, stirs the heart, and directs the congregation toward the glory of God.
Some have understood the Chief Musician as a reference to the Lord God Himself, since all true worship is ultimately offered under His authority and for His glory. Others understand the chief musician as a leader of Israel’s temple musicians, possibly men such as Heman or Asaph, who were associated with the organized worship of Israel.
1 Chronicles 6:33, “And these are they that waited with their children. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman a singer, the son of Joel, the son of Shemuel,”
1 Chronicles 16:5, 6, 7, “Asaph the chief, and next to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obededom: and Jeiel with psalteries and with harps, but Asaph made a sound with cymbals; Benaiah also and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.”
1 Chronicles 25:6, “All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king’s order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.”
These references show that worship in Israel was ordered, reverent, musical, and theological. God’s people were not left to invent worship according to personal taste. Worship was to be God centered, Scripture shaped, and conducted with reverence. Psalm 67 belongs in that setting. It is not merely a personal devotional thought, it is a congregational prayer and missionary hymn.
Psalm 67 is sometimes neglected when believers think of the great psalms. Many are drawn immediately to Psalm 23, Psalm 51, Psalm 91, Psalm 100, Psalm 119, or Psalm 139. Yet Psalm 67 is one of the clearest missionary psalms in the Old Testament. It has a heart to see God’s way known on the earth, God’s salvation known among all nations, and God’s praise rising from all peoples.
The psalm begins with a request for God’s mercy and blessing, but that request is not selfish. The psalmist does not merely ask God to bless His people so they can become comfortable, prosperous, and secure in themselves. He asks God to bless His people so that God’s way may be known on earth and God’s salvation among all nations. That is the missionary heart of the psalm. God blesses His people so that His name, truth, salvation, and glory may be extended through them.
From a Baptist and literal hermeneutic, Psalm 67 should first be read in its Old Testament setting. Israel was praying for God’s blessing in light of His covenant promises, priestly blessing, and purpose for the nations. At the same time, the psalm clearly anticipates the worldwide spread of God’s salvation. The Abrahamic promise stands behind this psalm because God promised that through Abraham’s seed all families of the earth would be blessed. That promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and the gospel now goes to all nations.
Genesis 12:2, 3, “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great: and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
Psalm 67 therefore teaches that true blessing is never meant to terminate on the recipient. God blesses His people so they may become instruments of blessing to others. A church that only says, God bless us, but has no concern for the nations, does not understand the heart of Psalm 67. The proper prayer is, God be merciful to us and bless us, so that Your way may be known on earth, and Your salvation among all nations.
A. A Request and Reason for Blessing
Psalm 67:1
Psalm 67:1, “God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.”
Psalm 67 begins with a prayer for mercy and blessing. The words closely reflect the Aaronic blessing given in Numbers 6:24, 25, and 26, where the priests of Israel were commanded to bless the people in the name of the Lord.
Numbers 6:24, 25, 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.”
This connection is important because Psalm 67 begins with priestly language. The psalmist asks God to do what the priests pronounced over Israel, to show mercy, grant blessing, and cause His face to shine upon His people. The blessing of God was not a vague religious feeling. It was covenantal favor from the Lord, grounded in His mercy and directed toward His redemptive purpose.
The prayer begins with “God be merciful unto us.” This is the right starting point for all true worship. Before man asks for blessing, he must understand his need for mercy. Mercy recognizes guilt, weakness, need, and dependence. The best saints and the worst sinners both need mercy. No man stands before God on the basis of personal merit. Every believer approaches God because God is merciful.
The phrase “and bless us” goes beyond mercy. God could show mercy by simply withholding judgment. He could refrain from destroying the guilty, and that alone would be mercy. Yet the psalmist asks for more. He asks God not only to spare, but to bless. This reveals the greatness of divine grace. The believer does not merely ask God not to condemn him, he asks God to pour out favor upon him.
This is astonishing when understood properly. A guilty criminal before a judge might plead for mercy, but it would be bold to ask the judge for blessing. Yet the God of Scripture is so gracious that His people may ask not only for pardon, but for favor, not only for deliverance from wrath, but for the shining of His face.
The phrase “cause his face to shine upon us” is one of the richest expressions in the verse. In the ancient world, the face of a king revealed favor or displeasure. A shining face meant acceptance, warmth, approval, and kindness. A turned away or darkened face meant displeasure, rejection, or judgment. To have God’s face shine upon His people is to have His favor rest upon them.
This blessing is ultimately secure only in Jesus Christ. God’s face shines upon the believer, not because the believer is worthy in himself, but because he is accepted in Christ. The Father is well pleased with the Son, and the believer’s standing before God rests in union with Christ. Therefore the Christian’s peace is not grounded in emotional performance, religious achievement, or self righteousness. It is grounded in Christ.
Ephesians 1:6, “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
When God’s face shines upon His people, there is peace, strength, assurance, and courage. If God smiles upon a man, then the hatred of the world cannot destroy him. If God approves, then human opposition cannot have the final word. The believer may face hardship, persecution, rejection, and trial, but the shining face of God gives inward calm that circumstances cannot remove.
The verse ends with Selah. This calls the worshipper to pause and reflect. The believer should stop and consider the greatness of God’s mercy, the greatness of God’s blessing, and the greatness of God’s shining favor. These three petitions include everything a man needs, mercy for guilt, blessing for need, and divine favor for life before God.
Psalm 67:2
Psalm 67:2, “That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.”
Psalm 67:2 gives the reason for the request in Psalm 67:1. The psalmist asks for mercy, blessing, and the shining face of God, not merely for personal comfort, but so that God’s way may be known on earth and His saving health among all nations. This is the missionary purpose of blessing.
The phrase “That thy way may be known upon earth” means the people of God are blessed so that the way of God may be revealed through them. God’s way includes His truth, His commandments, His righteousness, His worship, His character, His covenant faithfulness, and His plan of redemption. The world needs more than vague spirituality. The world needs to know the way of the Lord.
This also means that God’s people are meant to be evidence of God’s saving power. When the people of God live under His blessing, walk in His ways, obey His Word, proclaim His truth, and display His grace, the nations are given a visible witness. When God’s people are spiritually dead, compromised, worldly, and silent, they become a hindrance to the mission they were meant to serve.
The phrase “thy saving health among all nations” refers to God’s salvation. The older wording saving health carries the idea of deliverance, salvation, restoration, and spiritual wholeness. Of all God’s ways, His way of salvation is most urgent for the nations. The world is perishing, and the nations need the salvation of God.
This verse gives the proper motive for praying for blessing. The believer may ask God to bless him, but he must not ask merely for selfish reasons. God’s people should not be a bless me people who only want comfort, prosperity, ease, and protection for themselves. The higher prayer is, Lord, bless us so that Your way may be known. Bless us so that Your salvation may be proclaimed. Bless us so that the nations may see Your glory.
This principle agrees with the Great Commission. The Lord Jesus did not command His people merely to collect decisions or produce shallow religious interest. He commanded them to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that He commanded.
Matthew 28:19, 20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
The scope of the psalm is the whole earth. The psalmist does not merely think of Jerusalem, Israel, the Middle East, or the surrounding nations. He prays that God’s way would be known upon earth and God’s salvation among all nations. This is a large vision, and it is the vision God’s people should have. God’s heart is not small. His saving purpose reaches the nations.
The apostle Paul understood his ministry in priestly terms when he preached the gospel to the Gentiles. He saw the conversion of the Gentiles as an offering made acceptable by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:16, “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.”
This connects directly with the missionary heart of Psalm 67. The blessing of God upon His people is not meant to stay inside the borders of Israel or inside the walls of a church building. God blesses His people so that His salvation may be declared among all nations.
Believers today also share in priestly service, not through animal sacrifices, but through spiritual sacrifices, witness, prayer, holiness, evangelism, and gospel proclamation.
1 Peter 2:9, 10, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
Psalm 67:2 therefore turns blessing outward. God’s mercy upon us should make us merciful in witness. God’s blessing upon us should make us generous in mission. God’s shining face upon us should make us eager for others to know His salvation.
B. A Call to Praise God
Psalm 67:3
Psalm 67:3, “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.”
Psalm 67:3 is a prayer to God for the praise of the nations. The psalmist does not merely call the peoples to praise God, he asks God to bring them to praise. This matters because missions begins with God, not man. God is the One who saves. God is the One who opens blind eyes. God is the One who turns hearts. God is the One who gathers worshippers from the nations.
The phrase “Let the people praise thee, O God” shows that the desired result of mission is worship. Evangelism is not complete merely because information has been transferred. The goal is not just that people hear religious words, but that sinners are brought to know, trust, obey, and praise the true God. Salvation leads to worship.
The psalmist then intensifies the prayer, “let all the people praise thee.” It was not enough to pray vaguely that some peoples would praise God. The psalmist desires all peoples to praise Him. This is a prayer of great vision. It refuses to think small. It refuses to write off nations, tribes, peoples, languages, and cultures as unreachable. The heart of God’s people should be enlarged to match the scope of God’s redemptive purpose.
This prayer agrees with the heart of God revealed in the New Testament.
2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
God’s patience is tied to His saving purpose. He is not slow, weak, or indifferent. He is longsuffering, giving space for repentance. Therefore believers should pray with urgency and compassion for the nations to praise Him.
This prayer also looks forward to the heavenly multitude gathered from every nation, kindred, people, and tongue.
Revelation 7:9, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”
Psalm 67:3 therefore looks beyond Israel to the global worship of God. This does not erase Israel. It does not replace the promises of God to Israel. Rather, it shows that God’s covenant purposes always included blessing to the nations. The God of Israel is worthy of the praise of all peoples.
This verse also confronts narrowness in the heart of believers. It is easy to care only about one’s own people, church, family, nation, or culture. Psalm 67 pushes the heart outward. The believer must ask whether he truly desires all peoples to praise God, or whether he has written off certain groups as hopeless, undesirable, or unworthy of gospel concern. The psalm does not permit such small thinking.
Psalm 67:4, 5
Psalm 67:4, “O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.”
Psalm 67:5, “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.”
The psalmist now calls for the nations to be glad and sing for joy. The reason may seem surprising at first. The nations should rejoice because God will judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. To sinful men, judgment sounds threatening, and it is threatening to the unrepentant. But righteous judgment is good news for a world filled with corruption, oppression, deceit, murder, abuse, injustice, and rebellion.
The phrase “O let the nations be glad and sing for joy” shows that the reign of God is not misery for the righteous. It is joy. When God rules, justice is not perverted. Wickedness is not protected. Truth is not suppressed. The innocent are not forgotten. The oppressor does not have the final word. The nations should be glad because God’s rule is righteous.
The statement “for thou shalt judge the people righteously” points to God’s perfect justice. Human courts can be corrupted. Human rulers can be bribed. Human governments can become tyrannical. Human systems can reward evil and punish good. God judges righteously. He knows all facts, sees all motives, weighs all actions, and renders perfect judgment.
The phrase “and govern the nations upon earth” points forward to the rule of God over the nations. From a premillennial and literal hermeneutic, this looks ahead to the future kingdom reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth. Christ will return and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. The nations will not forever remain under rebellion, deception, and corrupt rule. The Lord will govern the nations in righteousness.
Revelation 19:15, 16, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
This future rule of Christ should not make believers less passionate about evangelism. It should make them more passionate. If Jesus Christ is coming to judge and govern the nations, then the nations need to hear the gospel now. The certainty of Christ’s return should create urgency, not laziness. Prophecy rightly understood does not produce passivity. It produces holiness, endurance, witness, and missionary zeal.
The verse ends with Selah. The worshipper should pause and consider the connection between God’s righteous judgment, His government over the nations, and the joy of the nations. The coming kingdom is not a small doctrine. It is central to the hope of Scripture. The nations will be governed by the rightful King.
Psalm 67:5 then repeats the chorus, “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.” This repetition is not vain repetition. It is a worthy refrain. Some truths are so important they must be repeated until they shape the heart. The psalmist wants the praise of God from all peoples. He wants God alone praised, not idols, false gods, human rulers, or the works of men’s hands.
This verse also anticipates the ultimate worship of God by redeemed people from every nation. The praise of God is the destiny of the redeemed. The goal of salvation is not merely escape from hell, as glorious as that deliverance is. The goal is the glory of God in the worship of redeemed sinners.
C. The Answer to This Prayer
Psalm 67:6
Psalm 67:6, “Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.”
Psalm 67:6 describes blessing that flows in response to the praise of the nations and the fulfillment of God’s purpose. The phrase “Then shall the earth yield her increase” may indicate that the psalm was associated with harvest. The abundance of the field lifted the psalmist’s mind to a greater harvest, the spiritual harvest of the nations.
In its immediate sense, the earth yielding her increase speaks of agricultural blessing. God gives fruitfulness. He sends rain, causes seed to grow, and brings forth harvest. The people of Israel understood that the fruitfulness of the land was tied to God’s blessing. The earth does not ultimately provide by itself. God is the giver.
Deuteronomy 28:4, 5, “Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground and the fruit of thy cattle the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.”
Yet Psalm 67 carries the idea beyond agriculture. When the earth knows God’s way, God’s salvation, and God’s praise, creation itself is being directed toward its proper purpose. God created mankind to know Him, worship Him, obey Him, and glorify Him. When people praise God, they are functioning according to the design of the Creator.
The earth will never find its proper fruitfulness and fulfillment while mankind remains in rebellion against God. Sin disorders man’s relationship with God, with neighbor, with self, and with creation. When God’s kingdom is established and the nations are governed in righteousness, creation’s fruitfulness will correspond with the reign of the King.
Romans 8:21, 22, “Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”
The statement “and God, even our own God, shall bless us” is deeply personal. The psalmist does not speak of a distant deity. He says our own God. Covenant relationship matters. God is not merely the God who exists. He is the God who belongs to His people by covenant grace, and His people belong to Him.
This phrase also shows confidence. The God who blesses the nations is the God who blesses His own people. The missionary heart does not diminish personal blessing. It enlarges it. When God’s people align themselves with God’s purpose for the nations, they are walking in the stream of His revealed will. There is blessing in sharing the heart of God.
There is also a spiritual cycle here. God blesses His people. His people use that blessing to make His way known. As His way is known, peoples praise Him. As peoples praise Him, God continues to bless. Blessing leads to mission, mission leads to praise, praise leads to further blessing, and the glory returns to God. The circle is broken when God’s people receive blessing and hoard it for themselves.
Psalm 67:7
Psalm 67:7, “God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.”
Psalm 67:7 repeats the promise and expectation of blessing. “God shall bless us” is stated with confidence. The repetition emphasizes certainty. The psalmist believes that God’s blessing will rest upon His people as His redemptive purpose moves outward to the nations.
This confidence is grounded in the promises of God, especially the promise to Abraham. God promised to bless Abraham and make him a blessing to all families of the earth. That promise is fulfilled ultimately through Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham, through whom salvation comes to Jew and Gentile.
Galatians 3:8, “And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”
Galatians 3:16, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds as of many but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
Psalm 67 therefore fits beautifully with the whole biblical story. God blessed Abraham. God formed Israel. God brought forth Messiah through Israel. Christ died and rose again. The gospel now goes to the nations. One day all the ends of the earth will fear the Lord.
The final phrase “and all the ends of the earth shall fear him” gives the conclusion of the psalm. The goal is not merely that the nations receive benefits from God. The goal is that they fear Him. The fear of God includes reverence, awe, worship, submission, obedience, and recognition of His glory. The nations must not merely admire God’s blessings. They must bow before God Himself.
The phrase “all the ends of the earth” makes the global scope unmistakable. No region is outside the concern of God. No nation is beyond the command to worship. No people group is excluded from the missionary vision of Scripture. God’s heart and plan reach to the ends of the earth.
This conclusion also teaches that the true measure of blessing is not comfort, wealth, safety, or earthly success. A believer may suffer, be persecuted, lose possessions, live in hardship, or even lay down his life, and yet be deeply blessed if God uses him for His glory. The highest blessing is not that man becomes comfortable, but that God is honored, salvation is proclaimed, and the ends of the earth fear Him.
Psalm 67 is therefore a missionary psalm in the fullest sense. It begins with mercy and blessing, but it does not end with man. It ends with the fear of God among all the ends of the earth. The people of God are blessed so that God’s way may be known, God’s salvation may be declared, God’s praise may rise from all peoples, God’s righteous rule may be welcomed by the nations, and God Himself may be feared to the ends of the earth.
