Blog : OUR FATHER´S FACE

2483 posts
8/10/2017 5:02 am

Last Read:
8/10/2017 5:04 am

OUR FATHER´S FACE

Read: Psalm 80

Bible in a Year: Psalms 79–80; Romans 11:1–18

Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. Psalm 80:3

I remember my father’s face. It was hard to read. He was a kind man, but stoic and self-contained. As a , I often searched his face, looking for a smile or other show of affection. Faces are us. A frown, a sullen look, a smile, and crinkly eyes reveal what we feel about others. Our faces are our “tell.”

Asaph, the author of Psalm 80, was distraught and wanted to see the Lord’s face. He looked north from his vantage point in Jerusalem and saw Judah's sister-state, Israel, collapse under the weight of the Assyrian Empire. With her buffer state gone, Judah was vulnerable to invasion from all sides—Assyria from the north, Egypt from the south, and the Arab nations from the east. She was outnumbered and outmatched.

Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. Psalm 80:3

Asaph gathered up his fears in a prayer, three times repeated (80:3, 7, 19), “Make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.” (Or, in other words, let me see Your smile.)

It’s good to look away from our fears and search our heavenly Father’s face. The best way to see God’s face is to look at the cross. The cross is His “tell” (John 3:16).

So know this: When your Father looks at you, He has a great big smile on His face. You’re very safe!
Ask God to shine His face on you. For further help in prayer, try praying this Psalm or others.

God’s love for us is as expansive as the open arms of Christ on the cross.

MrsJoe 76F

17488 posts
8/10/2017 7:15 am

Excellent, as usual. But a request.... please use a darker print. I find this lighter one hard to read.

Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.