Make your face to shine on your servant. Psalm 31:16 (WEB)
START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
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OBSERVE:
This is a Psalm of Lament attributed to David. The Psalm is written in the first-person perspective, as a deeply personal plea for the mercy of Yahweh.
David first declares that Yahweh is his refuge — and in the next breath pleads that he may never be disappointed, asking:
Deliver me in your righteousness.
David then uses a series of metaphors that support his vision of Yahweh as his source of refuge.
- He asks Yahweh to bow down his ear to listen to David’s plea, and deliver him speedily. This is a spatial metaphor — Yahweh is high above David and infinitely greater. David can’t reach up to Yahweh — Yahweh must bend down to hear him.
- Yahweh is described as a strong rock, a house of defense, and a fortress. The mountains in which the young David hid from Saul must have seemed like a kind of rocky fortress. This is an easy association for David to make, that Yahweh is like those rocks and mountain fortresses. There may also be an allusion to Jerusalem on Mount Zion, which has been called a natural fortress. Interestingly, it is this rock that David asks to lead and guide him, for Yahweh’s name’s sake.
- David then mixes his metaphors just a little bit. He describes himself as snared in a net that has been set secretly for him, and begs Yahweh to pluck him out of the net, as if he were a trapped bird. Although we have no historical context for this description, there are any number of circumstances in David’s life that might have been described as a snare for David — King Saul’s plots and pursuits of David; conflict with the Philistines; his own poor choices with Bathsheba and Uriah; even his family problems with Tamar, Amnon and Absalom.
David concludes this opening section with a declaration of faith that is familiar to the Christian reader:
Into your hand I commend my spirit.
You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.
The reader of the Gospel of Luke will recognize part of this phrase from Jesus’ words on the cross:
Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last (Luke 24:36).
It should be noticed that this Psalm that Jesus quotes in his last breath is a Psalm of lament, but these are words of hope and trust in Yahweh.
Our lectionary reading for this Sunday does not include verses 6-14. These verses continue the mixture of lament and hope that we find in the first five verses.
Verses 15-16 provide a clarion call of hope:
My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.
Despite his physical, emotional and social suffering and alienation, he places his complete trust in Yahweh, and confesses his faith. There is also a kind of serenity that he finds as he places his life (my times) in Yahweh’s hand.
He prays for deliverance from his persecutors, and then in a tour de force of faith, he alludes to two key spiritual principles in Hebraic spirituality:
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.
The first phrase reminds us of Aaron’s high priestly blessing early in Israel’s history:
Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
Yahweh make his face to shine on you,
and be gracious to you.
Yahweh lift up his face toward you,
and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26).
The word face in Hebrew is panayim, which also means presence.
Yahweh’s presence brings light to his servant.
And the second phrase — loving kindness — is a frequent refrain in the Psalms that describes Yahweh’s disposition toward his people and his creatures. Out of 174 mentions of Yahweh’s loving kindness, 121 are found in the Psalms alone.
APPLY:
It is virtually impossible to know the context of this Psalm in David’s life. Any number of circumstances might apply:
- King Saul turned against him in jealously and sought to end David’s life.
- David experienced the consequences of his own adulterous and murderous crime, which led to his heartbroken repentance.
- He was betrayed later in his life by his own son, Absalom.
And yet, despite the tough times that occurred in David’s life on more than one occasion, he places his trust in Yahweh who is his strong rock and fortress, who rescues him from the snare of the enemy.
This is certainly a comfort to us as we apply these words to our lives. It seems obvious that Jesus is quoting this Psalm as he dies:
Into your hand I commend my spirit.
What safer place can there be as we face adversity, and even our inevitable deaths? Then, like David, may we find the same refuge that he did, and pray:
My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.
This Psalm provides the example of a life that turns from despair and darkness to hope in God and his light.
RESPOND:
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a film set in the rural South during the Great Depression. Three escaped convicts are chained together — at first literally, but then by circumstances — and must seek their freedom together or be recaptured together.
When they have finally been freed from their shackles, they are hiding in a barn loft. But the authorities surround them and set the barn ablaze. Everett McGill, their leader by default, is panicked. He keeps repeating the line, “@#$*, we’re in a tight spot!” (I have chosen not to quote the somewhat mild profanity).
These days, we may find ourselves in a “tight spot!” Geopolitics seem to careen recklessly toward war. National politics present seemingly insoluble problems. Economics and the markets fluctuate wildly. Cultural changes, accelerated by the now ubiquitous internet, seem to be out of control. Mores and morality seem to have come loose from their mooring in traditional values.
And yet, we may find real comfort in the prayer of David, when he says:
My times are in your hand.
I find this very reassuring — that no matter what happens, I have turned the keys over to God. And I can trust that his face will shine on me, and his loving kindness will save me.
Lord, distress and grief and abandonment are likely to happen in this broken world. Thank you that your presence shines on me, and your loving kindness will save me. My times are in your hand. Keep me faithful to you. Amen.
PHOTOS:
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