Your face, Lord, will I seek

Yes, Susannah sister dear, I do realize that it has been 4 months since I last blogged. :)

I've been wrapped up for the past few weeks in Hebrew word studies concerning words found in the books of Job and Psalms. My favorite is pānîm , from which the English word "face" is almost exclusively translated. The metaphor for face is overabundant in the Old Testament.

Read:
The word pānîm is translated face or presence most often in the OT. Other words are translated “face” but this one has a wider range of emotions. “Pānîm is the most common word in the OT for ‘presence’ in a broader sense than just ‘face.’”

It is used in connection with entering or leaving the presence of a superior (Yahweh included). “The face expressed a full range of emotions to the Hebrews” – a fallen face meant anger, to fall on one’s face indicated obescience, a lifted face is the opposite of a fallen face, meaning acceptance or approval or the granting of a request.

“’To see the face of a king’ indicated having an audience or entering his presence directly, and not being permitted to see his face indicated the absence of such an audience.” “When the king, or God, with whom one has an audience recognizes the person, he turns his face toward the person. This is a way of expressing the king’s attention and usually his positive response. Turning away the face, or turning the back and not the face, is a lack of attention and response; it is normally a sign of rejection. Hiding the face normally has a similar meaning...Also, one response of mankind to the presence of God is to hide the face, usually out of fear."

(This research from the Anchor Bible Dictionary)

Think of what a person's face means. If you were only to ever see a person's back, you would be able to pick up on their behavior, some, perhaps of their mood (by their body language), who their friends are, where they go, etc. But to see a person's face is to read their heart. You can tell my emotions, whether joy, apathy, or despair, on my face. In my eyes you see my passion, my contentment, my earnestness, my sarcasm. You really get to know a person's heart by seeing their face. This is how this metaphor is used often of the Lord in the Bible.

Job cries out to the Lord, "Why do you hide your face?" (13:24). His heart is breaking because he feels a breach in relationship with the Lord that he doesn't understand but desperately wants to grasp. I'm writing a 10-12 page paper on this subject.

But I've been thinking on the flip side of this as I've been studying some psalms for my homiletics class. I'll be speaking for 10 minutes on Psalm 27 this Tuesday and for 30 minutes on December 10 on Psalm 11, Lord willing. In Psalm 27, David says,

Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, "Seek my face."My heart says to you,
"Your face, LORD, do I seek."

Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the LORD will take me in.

David wanted to know God. He wanted not only to have a vague idea that God was "up there somewhere," but he more desperately wanted to know God's presence with him. He wanted to seek God's face - to know God's heart - to feel God's favor in his life.

William VanGemeren writes in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, “Little consensus exists on the meaning of the verb ‘seek’...It is probably that he was looking for a divine word or action that would satisfy the longing in his heart. The desire for God’s presence arose out of a need. The psalmist is not an escapist, for he wants to hang on to God until he is fully assured of his glorious presence.”

David was forsaken by men. He was pursued by enemies. He probably often felt alone and afraid. But he chose to seek to know God in His fullness and as he pursued God's heart, his confidence in the Lord grew. Psalm 27 is a joyfully confident expression of David's faith. He says,

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!
Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

When things are hard, I want to seek the Lord, not people, to help me and secure me. As I seek His heart, I know He will satisfy me with His presence. I can confidently say with David,

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.