Blessed to Be a Blessing- Reflections from Psalm 67 (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of a three-part series on Psalm 67, adapted from a teaching outline I wrote for a women’s Bible study taught in Spring 2026.

Psalm 67 is a beautiful picture of what happens when God’s people share His blessing with the nations. One day, all people, from every nation, will praise God with joy in the new heavens and the new earth. In Part 1 of this series, we looked at Psalm 67:1-2 and briefly discussed how God blessed His people so that all nations may know him.

Today, we will look at verses 3-5, which show us the second way in which God’s blessing leads to His praise among all people. God blesses His people so that all nations may be glad in His rule. Again, we see the parallel calls for the people to praise God in verses 3 and 5, and for the nations to shout for joy in verse 4 (the center of our chaism and purpose of the entire psalm).

This praise flows from the knowledge of God (discussed in Part 1’s explanation of the first two verses), and the joy that comes from knowing that God rules over all peoples with justice and equity. The psalmist is looking forward to a day when God’s rule is extended to the Gentiles. Again, God’s blessing on His people is not just for their enjoyment. It’s for them to extend that blessing to the nations.

And while the psalmist may have been looking forward to a time when the Gentiles are included in God’s rule, we (the ones who live in New Testament times), know that this time has arrived. Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection ushered in the era in which God’s grace, salvation, and rule were extended to all people for good. We see this most clearly in the book of Acts, when the church was mobilized to take the gospel to the Gentiles, who received the Holy Spirit just as the Jews had.

The whole book of Acts is an example of the practical application of Psalm 67. When God’s people steward His blessing as they’re supposed to, the nations experience God’s salvation and rule. We see this with the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius, Lydia, and others. They were saved when people like Peter, Paul, and Philip stewarded their own savlation and knowledge (their blessing), for the sake of these Gentiles coming to know Jesus as Lord.

Not Forced, but Glad

The psalmist also says that the nations are glad in God’s rule. It’s important to note that this is not forced or coerced obedience. As one commentator wrote, “it is glad submission to God that come from men and women being converted all over the world.” He goes on to write, “[there is a]…gladness in grasping by faith that God is governing his world in goodness and also in anticipation of that final exultation when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven and Christ hands over the kingdom to the Father.” ¹

In today’s political climate (not just in the US but around the world), we need this good news that God reigns. What hope we have in God’s rule! God rules over this world with perfect justice and mercy. He is not corrupt. He is not authoritarian. He is not a dictator. He is a good and gracious King, and all people can be glad in His rule. And so, as a response to this joy and gladness in God’s rule, the psalmist again exhorts the people to praise God.

God blessed His people so that they can know Him and be glad in His rule. In Part 3, we will see that God blessed His people so that all nations may fear Him and we will get into what this means for how we live today.

_{Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash}