God’s shining face
by Colleen Fitzpatrick
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O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved (Psalm 80:7).
Read Psalm 80:1–7
How’s your eyesight? Mine is not as good as it used to be – and it’s getting worse. Ageing and encroaching cataracts are taking their toll. I have trouble reading the small print, and street signs aren’t as clear as they used to be. It’s okay – I had my eyes checked last week and am still okay to drive, in case you were concerned about that!
The changes to my eyesight mean it is harder for me to see people’s facial expressions. I guess body language can be a good indicator of moods, but I need to be closer to people to see their smiles.
The Message translation of the Bible translates verse seven of the psalm above as: ‘God of the angel armies, come back! Smile your blessing smile: That will be our salvation.’
I quite like the notion of God’s face shining on us being a blessing smile. And I like the idea of needing to be close enough to God to see his face smiling at me. When you next hear the benediction, ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace’ (Numbers 6:24–26), you can imagine that you are close enough to God to see his face shining on or smiling at you. What a great way to go back out into the everyday world!
As you sing ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’, do you remember that Emmanuel/Immanuel means, ‘God with us’? Once again, you can cherish the knowledge that you are close to God, close enough to see God’s blessing smile and to, once again, celebrate the coming of God’s precious Son, who cared for us enough to give his life so that we might one day be close enough to God to actually see his shining face.
God of us all, thank you for your great love for us. Thank you for blessing and keeping us close to you through the good times and the not-so-good times. May your face continuously shine on us as we walk towards the time we are with you and Jesus forever. Amen.
Colleen lives in Adelaide with her husband, John. She enjoys reading, writing and keeping in touch with friends and family in Australia and overseas. After growing up in rural New South Wales, Colleen attended university in Sydney and then moved to Adelaide for two years in 1974. After meeting and marrying her husband, she has never left.
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