Do not hide your face from me….

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Scripture:

Psa. 27:7      ¶ Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,
        be gracious to me and answer me!
Psa. 27:8     “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
        Your face, LORD, do I seek.
Psa. 27:9         Do not hide your face from me.

     ¶ Do not turn your servant away in anger,
        you who have been my help.
    Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
        O God of my salvation!
Psa. 27:10     If my father and mother forsake me,
        the LORD will take me up.

Observation:

David didn't have a "once in a while" relationship with God; instead he had a relationship in which he reached out in a personal walk on a regular basis.  He didn't sugar-coat the relationship either, but would share from the very heart of his being the struggles that he was facing.  He loved God deeply but he also lived a rather tumultuous life with plenty of enemies and other distractions.  He regularly cried out to God and sought his guidance in his life. 

The very heart of David led him to seek the face of God.  He realized that to be in a proper relationship with God meant that they needed to meet on a regular basis, face to face!  The face of God shining down on David was what sustained him on his daily walk and he didn't want anything to happen that would destroy that relationship.  David was not a perfect man and the result was a fear that God would turn his back on him and that he would no longer be a reflection of God in the world.  David comes to the realization of an incredible truth -- God never turns his back on his children!  An earthly mother or father might forsake their child, but God NEVER will!

Application:

God's incredibly deep love for us is revealed in this passage of Scripture.  God never, ever turns his back on his children.  God is constantly facing in the direction of his children, reaching out to us with his grace, desiring for us to turn toward him and be in a relationship with him.  This grace and love is far more than any of us could probably truly imagine.  It is deeper than the love of a mother and father toward their child.

Sadly there are many today who have been abandoned by earthly parents.  Single parenthood is at an all-time high as people feel that they have a right to do their own thing.  Unfortunately we seem to forget that when we do our own thing, we leave wounded individuals in our wake.  Mothers and fathers forsaking their own children just for the sake of their personal needs and desires.  This reveals the sin of humanity to us.  God doesn't turn his back on us, we turn our back on God.  God's face is no longer shining on our face, but instead we are walking in the darkness of self-centeredness.  It is in that moment that we can become so consumed with ourselves that we might be willing to cast off our own children.

There is good news for the walking wounded of our world today.  God is the God of our salvation.  He is wanting us to turn our faces toward him -- to seek his face -- and in doing so his loving radiance will be showered on us.  The loving embrace of God is far greater than any human experience and will sustain us into all of eternity.   Yes, people in this world will let us down.  David was deeply hurt by those who were supposed to care for him but he found his healing in the loving embrace of God who was smiling down on him.  No wonder David ran to him on a daily basis, crying out for God not to hide his face from him.  God won't hide his face from us.  He is waiting for us to come and join him every day and his loving arms will sustain us through the junk of life. 

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your incredible love.  I want to seek you and your face every day!  Amen.

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