By ANGELIQUE WALKER-SMITH
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
Perhaps you know this beautiful and familiar Aaronic prayer, which is often rendered during a worship service or sung in a range of settings.* This beautiful prayer was first uttered among the Levites, who were taught to share it among the Israelite families and their communities to assure them of God’s presence.
But this internal focus of the prayer — on oneself and those who are familiar to us — is not the primary theme of this prayer. In other words, the prayer does not focus on the “me” or “us” but rather the “you” as the target of our love, witness, service and righteousness. It espouses a radical understanding of ubuntu, meaning “I am because you are.”
More than this, the prayer dares to challenge us to remove ourselves as the source of God’s blessings, to lessen our own self-centered orientation of only seeking blessings for ourselves and those closest to us. The prayer is an invitation to bless others, including strangers and enemies. The prayer is a call to announce the good news of God’s eternal keeping — of them and of us — and to make this visible. In so doing we invite our God to look favorably upon all people, even when we may not deserve God’s grace.
Advocating for ending hunger and poverty is a tangible way for us to show how we invite God to look upon those who are the potential “you” in our lives. Being advocates is an act of accompaniment in a vision of justice that makes for peace (shalom).
But such is not easy when we see global and local hunger driven primarily by a combination of the systemic injustice of poverty, armed conflict, climate extremes, and economic inequality. Despite the world producing enough food to feed everyone, these interconnected factors prevent vulnerable populations from accessing or affording the nutrition they need to survive.
Recently, the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI Report) was released. It is one of the premier reports that helps to measure hunger, malnutrition and food security in the world. The report states that new global estimates of hunger confirm sustained, gradual improvement. An estimated 7.8% of the global population faced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1% in 2024 and 8.6% in 2022. Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean have shown steady progress in recent years, and the prolonged upward trend in hunger in Africa has come to a halt.
Still, between 608 and 696 million people in the world — corresponding to 7.4 and 8.5% of the global population — faced hunger in 2025. For the first time, the largest number of people facing hunger reside in Africa. Progress towards the 2030 global nutrition targets is highly uneven across regions, which means that overall progress fails to account for the persistence of hunger in many communities.
Now is the time to see the “you” in the world that most needs God’s blessing. Now is the time to pray and act for individuals outside our own spheres who experience hunger. Visit Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters webpage for more information about how to do so.
* To watch this prayer performed in just two settings, go here and here.
Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is the Strategist for Pan African and Orthodox Faith Engagement at Bread for the World.
