Blessing and Princely Service

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. NUMBERS 6:24–26

Directly after the law of the Nazarite, Numbers 6 gives the great priestly blessing, and directly after that, Numbers 7 records at wearying length the gifts of the twelve princes of Israel. Hudson Taylor believed the order was deliberate. Separation to God opens the way to blessing from God, and blessing from God overflows in service to Him. In Separation and Service he follows that movement, and shows us his heart.

What blessing means

We use the word blessing loosely, Taylor says. Sometimes we mean praise, as when we bless God; sometimes a gift, as when we speak of the blessing of peace or plenty. But neither is the heart of it. His definition is exact: “Blessing is the moving of the heart towards an object of affection and complacency.” The gift or the song follows naturally, but the blessing is the feeling that prompts it. When the Lord blesses His people, it is His open heart that moves His loving hand.

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. PSALM 103:1

He illustrates it with a child at play who hears his mother’s step, drops his toys and runs to her, while she hurries to meet him with longer strides. Both hearts are full; but hers is larger, and her joy deeper. So it is with our Father. His joy in His people exceeds all their joy in Him as the infinite exceeds the finite.

Reading the threefold blessing in the light of the New Testament, Taylor hears in it the Father who blesses and keeps, the Son whose face shines upon us in grace, and the Spirit who lifts up His countenance and gives peace. On the Father, he says: “He is poorly kept who tries to keep himself.” On the Spirit, he asks searching questions of anyone who lacks peace. Is there sin unconfessed, or wrong not put right? Is anything withheld from God: ourselves, our property, our children, our testimony?

The consecrated always blessed

The soul that is fully consecrated, he says, always receives the blessing of God. Where the blessing is not enjoyed, something in the consecration is unreal or defective. Perhaps we have separated ourselves to carry out our own plan of service rather than to learn and do His will.

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them. NUMBERS 6:27

This needs care. Taylor does not mean that consecrated people never suffer; his own life disproves it, and chapter nineteen of this book takes up his teaching on adversity. He means that God’s heart is always moving towards those who are wholly His, and that a lack of peace often has a cause we can find and deal with. But it would be cruel to tell every troubled believer that his consecration must be defective. Sometimes the cloud has another source, and Taylor himself knew seasons of darkness he did not attribute to sin.

The longest chapter

Then comes Numbers 7, eighty-nine verses long, in which each of the twelve princes brings exactly the same offering, and each offering is listed in full, twelve times over. Why, Taylor asks, is so much space given to it in a book so marvellous in its range? His answer is the key to the whole book: to reveal the heart of God, and His delight in the loving gifts of His servants.

And he that offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah. NUMBERS 7:12

The record, he says, is not tedious to God. He compares it to a bride and bridegroom setting out their wedding presents for friends to see, each with the giver’s name attached, even when several are alike. He compares it to letters from his wife describing, with a mother’s tenderness, the birthday gifts the children had brought her. Twelve times the detail is repeated; it is, he says, “a most emphatic evidence that God never wearies in noting the service of each one of His people.”

A ship to take you to China

His best illustration comes from his own family. On one of his birthdays his little daughter, then about five, came to him with a present she had made herself: a piece of wood with a hole bored in it by her scissors, a peg stuck in the hole, and half a cockle-shell hung on the top. He had no idea what it was, and at last had to ask. “Why, don’t you know, papa? I thought you would like best a ship to take you to China!”

He treasured it, he says, more than almost any gift he ever received. Years later, when the same daughter was herself a missionary in China and introduced him to the first two Chinese women she had led to Christ, he reminded her of the little ship. His conclusion is simple and very beautiful: “It is not hard to please those who love us.”

For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. 2 CORINTHIANS 8:12

The same truth underlies his comment on the rough ox-wagons the princes first brought to carry the tabernacle. Moses may have wondered whether such rude offerings could please the glorious God. God answered at once: Take it of them. “God is not hard to please,” Taylor says. He values love-gifts by the love they express, not by their intrinsic worth.

According to his service

One more detail from Numbers 7 comforted Taylor. The wagons were not shared equally among the Levites. The sons of Merari, who carried the heavy boards and pillars, got four; the sons of Gershon, who carried the curtains, got two; and the sons of Kohath got none, because they bore the holy things of the sanctuary on their shoulders.

But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders. NUMBERS 7:9

Sometimes, Taylor says, the children of God are tempted to murmur when their service is heavy and help is scarce, and to compare their lot with others. But God makes no mistakes. “Those who are called to the holiest service are those who can have least assistance.” They carry on their own shoulders burdens that cannot be shared.

He ends the book by bringing it all to the cross. The princes’ gifts were for the dedication of the altar, and the altar points to Christ. And our true self-denial and giving, he says, practically show our real estimate of the value of the cross of Christ.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Think of God’s blessing this week not first as a gift, but as His heart moving towards you. Thank Him for that.

2. If you lack peace, work honestly through Taylor’s questions: is there sin unconfessed, a wrong not righted, anything withheld?

3. Give God one gift this week that costs you something, however small, and give it for love.

4. If your service feels heavy and unshared, remember the sons of Kohath, and ask for grace to carry it without comparing.

5. Ask what your giving says about your estimate of the cross.

A PRAYER

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Your heart moves towards Your people in blessing, and Your joy in us is greater than ours in You.

Keep me, for I am poorly kept when I try to keep myself. Make Your face shine on me, and give me Your peace.

Accept my small and clumsy gifts for the love that is in them, as a father treasures a child’s homemade ship.

And when my burden is heavy and no one can share it, let me carry it gladly, for the sake of the One who bore the cross for me. Amen.