May 12th, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Seeing God

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Opening Prayer

Father, I feel so unworthy to claim to be Your servant. May Your great grace to me never end.

Read PSALM 17:1-15

[1]A prayer of David. Hear me, LORD, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer- it does not rise from deceitful lips. [2] Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. [3] Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. [4] Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded. [5] My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled. [6] I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. [7] Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. [8] Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings [9] from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. [10] They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. [11] They have tracked me down, they now surround me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground. [12] They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a fierce lion crouching in cover. [13] Rise up, LORD, confront them, bring them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked. [14] By your hand save me from such people, LORD, from those of this world whose reward is in this life. May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies; may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones. [15] As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“We may ignore, but we cannot evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with him. He walks everywhere, incognito. And the incognito is not always easy to penetrate. The real labor is to remember to attend” (Armand Nicholi).

Think Further

Aware that none can protest their sinlessness, we may feel awkward reading these protestations of innocence. But if there is one counter to this, it is that the psalmists constantly acknowledge their sin (e.g. Psa. 32:5; 38:18; 51:3). Here the psalmist is not claiming to be sinless but to be innocent in a particular case involving false accusation and active hostility. We can all sympathize with that. Most of us know what it is like to have been unfairly treated, some of us, of course, more seriously than others. We could get mired down in a discussion of justice and injustice and how we (and the psalmist) should feel or act about it, but v. 15 renders all that irrelevant. The assurance of seeing God’s face and likeness gives everything a new dimension. It is enough to awaken seeing God’s likeness.

How will the psalmist “see” God? Making a likeness of God was prohibited (Exod. 20:4) but in Scripture there are those who have “seen” the God of Israel (Psa. 63:2), a special experience accorded to some leaders and prophets. On other occasions, “seeing God” was a way of describing the experience of worship, a feeling echoed in many Christian hymns. At another level, it is right to see in this psalm one of those great leaps of faith in which, perhaps through the eye of the poet, the psalmist glimpses the resurrection. The ancient poetic language here reaches out incredibly to an understanding that there is a communion with God which nothing, not even death, can interrupt (Rom. 8:38,39). When one day we, too, find ourselves waking in the presence of God then, for us, like the psalmist, all of the injustices of this life will pale into insignificance. To see God will be enough for us, too.

Apply

Can you recall a time when you “saw” God? Pray for a new awareness of God’s love and presence with you.

Closing prayer

Dear God, help me to see all my problems in the light of Your eternity. I long to see You, face to face. It will be enough.

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