“How’ya doin?" “Take her easy!”
Those might be appropriate greetings and goodbyes in our casual social conversations, but could we consider something far more appropriate from days long gone by?
In Ruth 2:4 when Boaz greeted his reapers, he said, “The LORD be with you.” And they answered him, “The LORD bless thee.” Then, there were the “so longs” as when David and Jonathan parted in 1 Samuel 20:42 “And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever…” What about the priestly blessings such as found in 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.”? All of this could be summarized by Numbers 6:27 “And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel;…”
Habit and routine are interesting human traits. It might sound strange to our ears to invoke the name of the LORD continually as they did “back in the day,” but then, it would only sound strange until it didn’t. Many of us probably muster up a “God bless you” when we close a conversation, and when that becomes a part of our person it soon sounds nothing but right and proper. It may be in a limited capacity, but at least we’re “putting the name of the LORD upon the people” and that can’t ever be bad!
I have often said that one of the best ways to preserve our freedom of speech is to exercise it without apology, and one of the best ways to make our greetings and benedictions honoring to the LORD is to simply start doing it. Yes, I want to know how my friends are doing, but I also want the LORD to bless them, so why not say so? And there’s nothing wrong with someone occasionally taking it easy, but how much better to pray that the LORD would “bless them, keep them, make His face shine upon them, be gracious unto them, lift up His countenance upon them, and give them peace.” …. I’m going to remember my own admonition on this!
The LORD bless thee! Love to all,
Pastor
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