2019-05-26 “The Shining Face of God"

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

God invites us to bring our doubts and fears,

our joys and concerns, our petitions and praise,

and offer them for the earth and all its creatures.

Prayers of the People, concluding with:

Receive these prayers, O God,

and transform us through them,

that we may have eyes to see and hearts to understand

not only what you do on our behalf,

but what you call us to do

so that your realm will come to fruition in glory. Amen.

Psalm 67

The Nations Called to Praise God

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

May God be gracious to us and bless us
   and make his face to shine upon us,
          Selah
that your way may be known upon earth,
   your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
   let all the peoples praise you. 

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
   for you judge the peoples with equity
   and guide the nations upon earth.
          Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
   let all the peoples praise you. 

The earth has yielded its increase;
   God, our God, has blessed us.
May God continue to bless us;
   let all the ends of the earth revere him.

 “The Shining Face of God”

From Bob Dailey,  "The Upper Room Disciplines 2019: A Book of Daily Devotions" by Upper Room Books, "WEDNESDAY, MAY 22 ~ Read Psalm 67 

When our children were babies, my husband and I would often go into the nursery while they slept just to gaze at their little bundled-up forms. They weren’t doing anything unusual—just breathing rhythmically and occasionally making little muffled sounds or yawning. But to our eyes, they were the most fascinating creatures in the world. Our faces literally shone with joy when we gazed at them.[1]

Today’s psalm begins with the prayer that God will “make his face to shine upon us.” Like a child dependent upon her parent for every good thing in life, the psalmist looks to God for the abundance of God’s blessing. The psalmist also asks that God’s ways may be known in the earth and God’s salvation may be known among all nations.[2]

This hope is expressed by the old praise and worship song, “Shine Jesus Shine (Lord, the light of your love is shining)”.[3]

Lord, the light of your love is shining

In the midst of the darkness, shining

Jesus, Light of the world, shine upon us

Set us free by the truth you now bring us

Shine on me, shine on me

Psalm 67 is based upon the blessing pronounced by Aaron and his sons (Numbers 6:24-26):

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.

When the Lord is angry, the Lord hides his face, paying no attention to the people and their prayers (see also Psalms 13:1; 27:9; 30:7). When the Lord shows favor, the Lord turns toward the worshippers with a beaming, smiling face (Psalm 67:1; see also Psalms 4:6; 31:16; 80:3, 7, 19).

Scripture tells us what we know about being “face to face” with anyone.  Historically the expression of addressing someone “face to face” is not a physical condition. Instead, it has been a relational condition, an agreement of mutuality and reciprocity between all parties. Dealing with another “face to face” was an expression of trust and friendship in the other—whether those dealings were done in person or via messenger. 

Still, a face-to-face request is 34 times more successful than an email.  From the report, “All participants made the exact same request following the exact same script; however, half of the participants made their requests over email, while the other half asked face-to-face. We found that people were much more likely to agree to complete a survey when they were asked in-person as opposed to over email. These findings are consistent with previous research showing that people are more likely to comply with requests in person than over email.”[4]^,[5]

A set of dynamic psychological processes is outlined that can induce good people to do evil, among them deindividuation, obedience to authority, passivity in the face of threats, self-justification, and rationalization. Dehumanization is one of the central processes in the transformation of ordinary, normal people into indifferent or even wanton perpetrators of evil.

To go to war means that you have to strip the enemy of his or her face.  Most wars have begun as a result of mis-information and propaganda alienating people from another, and creating a face that people are willing to kill.  Wars begun because of sufficient distance and alienation from the true face of the enemy. This is why Jesus’ instruction to love our enemies was so powerful, yet extremely difficult.

When we become offended with someone, we do not want to see their face, we also do not see their face we only see our offense. Offense has a face too. Like Cain our countenance fall, Ge 4:5. You can see the contempt, hatred, bitterness, resentment on the face.

Our face is most in view, and where most of our identifying qualities is located. We recognize the face. It is also emotionally our biggest fear, to loose ‘face’ before people, community, and friends. Dog’s reads our faces. The term face to face speaks of intimacy, thus a bride hiding her face behind a veil. Revelation means taking the bridal veil off of the face. Gen 24:65 All our emotions are most revealed in our face, hence the face being the canvas of the heart.

Simple, seek the face of God.  

Seek, “Light of His countenance,” Ps 44:3; Dan 9:17.

“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness,” Ps 17:15.

“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 day long, And in Your righteousness they are exalted,” Ps 89:15

“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,” Deuteronomy 34:10.  “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,” Exodus 33:11.

To seek God’s face is to seek Jesus.  “The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” 2 Cor 4:4-6

JESUS IS THE FACE OF GOD. He is the Expressed Image of God, Heb 1:3.

Will you show people where they can find God’s face this week?

Will you show God’s face this week?

Will you see God’s face this week?

See the face of God this week . . .and LIVE!

As we gaze on your kingly brightness

So our faces display your likeness

Ever changing from glory to glory

Mirrored here may our lives tell your story

Shine on me, shine on me

Prayer

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.

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[1]From Bob Dailey,  "The Upper Room Disciplines 2019: A Book of Daily Devotions" by Upper Room Books, "WEDNESDAY, MAY 22 ~ Read Psalm 67

[2]From Bob Dailey,  "The Upper Room Disciplines 2019: A Book of Daily Devotions" by Upper Room Books, "WEDNESDAY, MAY 22 ~ Read Psalm 67

[3]Graham Kendrick , Copyright © 1987 Make Way Music, www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

[4]https://hbr.org/2017/04/a-face-to-face-request-is-34-times-more-successful-than-an-email?utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

[5]In research Mahdi Roghanizad of Western University and I conducted, recently published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology