The Help of My Countenance

Wouldn’t you know it, if I write down something I am thinking about, there will be a test.  And when that moment came that pierced my heart, I failed the test.  So here I am again, thinking about Hannah and contemplating how “the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad”.

 “But Lord, this…this thing is very hard…”  Sometimes it presses in on our most vulnerable place; sometimes we are just tired, or caught unexpectedly.  Nontheless….

It seems there is an intertwining of three golden threads: God’s countenance, His presence (these words are sometimes substituted for  “His countenance”), and our countenance.  When God’s countenance is upon us and the light of it illumines our hearts and our face, the shadows, anxieties, hurts and troubles flee.  His countenance upon us really means His Presence is with us, and He has promised this is always the case, whether we feel it or not.  And when His countenance shines on us, and his Presence is always with us, our countenance shines.  Shall we enter, this day, into the Light of our reality?  Speak the truth of our reality with the “look on our face”, smiling into the eyes of our husband, our children, our friends and even those with whom we differ?

We all know the joy that comes when a beloved one smiles into our eyes, holds our glance, and communicates abundant love.  This is what God does when His countenance is upon us.  Are we looking, ready to receive?  Or are our eyes on the ground?  "He will rejoice over you with gladness"!!  (Zeph 3:17)

“Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.  You have put gladness in my heart.”  Ps 4:6-7

I never noticed how these words are repeated three times in two Psalms; the pattern shows the interplay between God’s countenance upon us and the lifting up of our own:

Why are you cast down, Oh my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.  Ps. 42:5

Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?  Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.  Ps. 42:11

Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?   Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”  Ps 43: 5

Nor did their right arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of your countenance.  Ps 44:3

Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!  They walk, O Lord, in the light of Your countenance.  In Your Name they rejoice all the day long, and in Your righteousness they are exalted.  For you are the glory of their strength, and in Your favor their horn is exalted.  Ps.  89:15-17

Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of joy with Thy countenance.  Acts 2:28, quoting Ps 16, also translated “full of joy in Thy presence”.

Let's seek His presence together as we begin this new week: let's enter into the light of His countenance, and let our beloved ones bask in the joy of our countenance.

-courtesy of Thistledown Photography