Psalm 67
A nice, bright, sun-shiny face. Sometimes in the illustrations of children’s books we might see a picture of the sun with a smiley face. We feel that when the sun is smiling down on us, all is well. In our psalm for today we read of when God’s face shines down upon us. Let’s take a look at what we can learn from God’s Word.
We can often tell how a person feels about us by the look on their face. When a spouse or parent is upset with us, their face will show it. A young man or woman can tell if their sweetheart is happy or angry by the look on their face. When someone smiles at us, we are in their favor. They are likely happy and friendly with us. An employee dreads the look on the face of the boss when things are going bad in the office or factory. In former years, the look on the face of the king would show if someone was in favor or not. A bad look could signal doom to someone, whereas a good look could be a lifetime of blessings.
Our psalmist prays for the Lord to have mercy upon him, bless him, and to let His face to shine upon him (vs. 1). It is only through God’s mercy that His face will ever shine upon us. We certainly don’t deserve His attention or good will. Grace is when God gives us something that we don’t deserve. Mercy is when God holds back from giving us what we do deserve. We do not deserve any of the blessings He bestows upon us. What we deserve is the just punishment for our sins and His wrath. However, when we put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, God gives us what we don’t deserve, and holds back from us what we do deserve. He gives us grace and mercy. He makes His face to shine upon us.
When something shines brightly we can see it from far away. People have used mirrors in the sun to shine a signal, often to let rescuers know where they are when lost and needing to be found. When the sun hits the water of a lake, it shimmers brightly. When sunlight hits the windows of a tall building just right, like the Sears Tower in Chicago near where I live, you can see the bright reflection like a blaze of light for quite a distance. A shining light can be a beacon of hope if there is danger, like what we find in a lighthouse. When we have Jesus in our hearts, God looks on us with His love and favor. He is there for us when we need a beacon in danger.
The remainder of this short psalm reminds us of the fulfillment of the Great Commission that Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20, where He told them to go to all nations, teaching them the Gospel. Verse 2 speaks of this very thing, that all nations will know of the salvation offered by God. Because of this, all peoples everywhere will praise God (vs. 3, 5). All that God does, and His dealings with mankind is righteous, and one day, possibly soon, He will come to judge all nations and rule this world (vs. 4). When we invite the Lord into our life, following His Word and His Son, then He will bless us (vs. 6 - 7).
Just as we wish to be in the good graces of our friends and loved ones, and hopefully our boss and those in authority over us, we can see how everyone would like to have God’s face to shine upon them. Let’s live our lives in a way that would please our Heavenly Father, and feel His love and mercy fall upon us like the welcoming beams of sunlight fall upon us.
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