“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.” Numbers 6:24-26

Happy Friday everyone! Imagine that you’re taking a walk with your child in your neighborhood, and suddenly your child trips, falls, and begins to cry. That cry is what’s known as an emotional bid. It’s an action that’s indicating a want, a need, or attention. There are emotional bids all around us each and every day. The question is, how do we respond to them?

So the question today is, can you turn towards? In a scenario with your child falling down, imagine that you respond by saying, “Oh sweetheart, I’m here. It’s going to be okay. Here, let’s brush this dirt off your knee. Oh, and look your shoe is untied, that’s why this happened. Remember how I told you it’s important to make sure your shoes are tied. Okay here, let’s tie your shoe. You better? You ready to get back to our walk in this beautiful day? All right, let’s go.”

This type of response is known as turning towards. With such a response, you are being present, attentive, acknowledging the hurt and the pain. Turning towards as a constant response will have many blessed benefits in the life of that child.

So is it any wonder or any surprise that God, the Heavenly Father, asks His leaders to speak these words over His children weekly in worship? “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.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Prayer
Lord God, we thank You that You have turned towards us. We have certainly given You plenty of reason to turn away. Yet in Your grace and in Your mercy, You turn toward us. Would You help us also to turn toward others, even when they give us excuses and reasons not to? Instead, allow us to be instruments of Your mercy, Your grace, and Your peace as we go throughout this weekend. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.