Psalm 67
As Christians, I think we have often been guilty of understating the extravagance of God’s love. We get so focused in on our own sinfulness and our need for a Savior that we overlook the fact that God doesn’t keep a record of sins like we do. We tend to view ourselves as criminals who have broken the law, but that’s not how God sees us.
And I think David reminds us of that in this psalm: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us.” (vs 1)
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When David says, “May God be gracious to us,” what he’s saying is that he wants God’s forgiveness. In the traditional Christian view, this would be like a criminal standing in front of the judge, asking for a pardon. (I must say, this penal view is one that I don’t personally subscribe to, but it is the prevailing view in Christianity.)
God freely grants this pardon. In fact, every indication in the life and death of Christ is that God grants this pardon before we even ask for it. In other words, the problem with sin is not that we have to somehow secure God’s pardon. Forgiveness is not what saves us. It’s what helps us understand that God doesn’t have a problem with us. He is on our side.
And that’s why I think this psalm helps take us beyond the traditional penal Christian understanding of salvation, because after David talks about God’s forgiveness, he asks for a blessing. Think about that. In the penal understanding of sin, this would be like the criminal—who is granted a pardon—then asking the judge to give him something!
That certainly wouldn’t fit with our view of what’s supposed to happen in a courtroom, but that’s exactly the way God works. His forgiveness is designed to break down the barrier that sin has created between us, and once the barrier is down, He gets busy giving. His blessings always come on the heels of His pardon.
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God’s love is outrageous. He doesn’t treat us like criminals, because He doesn’t see us as criminals. He treats us like His children, because that’s exactly what we are. He is always merciful to us, and His mercy is simply a precursor to His blessings.
For those of us living in guilt, this kind of love feels outrageous, because we feel undeserving of God’s favor. But God doesn’t think of His love as outrageous. For Him, it’s normal. He loves us as He does because that’s who He is.