"Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior." (v.9)
It is a wonderful thing for every child of God to know that the one thing you and I will never, ever see is the back of God's head. He will never hide his face from us. He'll never turn his back on us. He'll never turn and walk away. He'll never reject or forsake us. He'll never cast us off. Perhaps the most glorious mystery of our lives is that we've been chosen to have is his face forever toward us. We've been chosen to have his smile forever on us. We've been blessed to have him look on us with love and grace forever and ever!
What's stunning about the favor of God is that we could never have done anything to deserve, achieve or earn it. I was irritated with my wife yesterday, no not because she's a sinner and not because she did anything wrong at all. No, I was irritated because she didn't fit as well within my sovereign plan for the day as I wanted her to. In an instant I began to look at the one human being that I love most on this earth as an obstacle rather than an object of my affection. It wasn't long before I was filled with remorse and a sense of how deep my need still is for the rescuing grace of the Lord. You see, what's stunning about the favor of the Lord isn't just that there was a period in my life long ago when I got it all wrong and when I wanted to be my own king. No, even as God's child I still get it wrong. I still have moments when I'm much more excited about my kingdom than I am about God's. I still forget the glorious reality of his love for me and hook my life to the flawed glories of the created world.
Yet, in all of this, God doesn't get exasperated. He doesn't grow weary. He doesn't wonder why in the world he redeemed me in the first place. He doesn't look for ways to show me how much I have hurt him. He doesn't harbor bitterness or hold a grudge. He doesn't hide his face or run and walk away. He's patient in love and persevering in grace even though I still am not able to earn his favor.
Why am I so blessed? I am blessed, because in the most painful moment in human history, Jesus willingly subjected himself to the rejection of his father. He took on my sin and allowed himself to be rejected. In this unthinkable moment of substitution, the Trinity was torn apart as the Father turned away from the Son. Now, here's what you and I have to understand; Jesus was willing to suffer the horrible rejection of his Father so that you and I would never, ever have to experience it ourselves.
Jesus willingly looked at the back of God's head so that we would never look at anything but his face. So, today, when you envision God with the eyes of your heart, envision his face, because, if you are his child, it's the only thing you are ever going to see!
"This article is a resource of Paul Tripp Ministries. For more information visit www.paultripp.com"
