“Cause Thy face to shine…”
On the burden, so to call it, of Psalm 80 (see verses 3, 7, 19)*, it may be observed that we get the person of the Lord strikingly revealed through Scripture. Thus, regarded in different lights, He is both the answerer of prayer and the suppliant. He receives the Spirit, and pours out the Spirit. (Zech. 12:10; Acts 2:33). He is the Rock (Matt. 16:18), and yet He looks to God as the Rock (Psalm 62). He is one of the flock (Psalm 23) and yet the Shepherd of the flock (John 10). He is on the throne praised, and yet the leader of the people’s praise (Psalm 116; Rev. 5). He is a Priest, and yet the redeemed are priests to Him (Rev. 20:6). In one respect He is a Jew, desiring the divine favour for His nation, and waiting for the face of Jehovah to be turned again to His people (Isa. 8:17). In another respect He is as Jehovah Himself, the God of Israel, with His face turned away from His people (Matt. 23:39), thus strikingly revealed in both His divine and human place, both as the expectant head of Israel, and yet as Israel’s God. All this can be understood when the great mystery of “God manifest in flesh” and its glorious results are understood. But who can utter it all?
John Gifford Bellett, Short Meditations on the Psalms.
*Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Psalm 80:17 v 3 and 7 similar
Golden Nugget Number 327
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