Psalm 43:3 – His Presence

As usual, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Judge me, O God. Plead my cause against an unloving nation. Against a man of deceit and injustice deliver me, ²because You [are] the God of my fortress.  Why do You reject me? Why do I walk to and fro mourning in oppression of a hostile one?

³Send forth Your light and Your truth. Let them guide me. Let them bring me to the mountain of Your holiness and to Your dwelling places.

In my last post I focused on the first phrase of verse 3, “Send forth Your light …” Of course what the Psalmist asks is for God to send forth His light and His truth.  I could expound for hours on the subject of God’s truth, but I’ve done that many times so I won’t here. Suffice it to point out that God’s truth is the only absolute truth. It is the bedrock upon which life, even civilization must be built. All other “truth” must bow to His. It is one of the challenges (and pleasures) of human existence to seek out the truths of our universe, that which we properly call science. But as much as I love science (and I do), even that is always subject to the limitations and errors of perception. Only God’s truth is absolutely “true.”

Note too that specifically the Psalmist wants God’s light and truth to guide him. He could have asked that God’s light and truth exonerate him or expose the villain. People often want God’s light and truth simply to add to their store of knowledge wherewith to impress their Sunday School class. But this psalmist’s passion is not just to be intellectual. He wants to walk with God. He wants God’s light and truth to be immediately practical. Guide me. Help me to know the way wherein I should walk. Help me to know how to think about this situation, what to do about it, how to respond to it. I would suggest it becomes particularly important to pray like this when we’re being treated unjustly precisely because we ourselves are sinners and prone to respond badly.

Interesting to note, too, that he specifically asks, “Let them bring me to the mountain of Your holiness and to Your dwelling places”.   I think it irrelevant whether he is referring literally to Jerusalem and the Temple or whether he is speaking spiritually of God’s presence. Either way it is the same in the end – it is God’s presence he desires. David longed in Psalm 23 (before there was a Temple), “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” In Psalm 61 he prayed “I long to dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.” In Psalm 27 he prayed, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple”.

“To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord”. I think I am just beginning to really understand and experience what David and the psalmist of our passage are talking about. All through my life, it has been a considerable comfort to be able to go to the Lord with my every trial, my every fear, my every need, to learn and to feed on the truth that He loves me and cares about me and wants to use those troubles for my good. I think underneath it all, part of the comfort was knowing that the trouble would end, wanting it to be over. Yes, I wanted to learn His lessons, grow closer to Him, and the like. But mainly I wanted it to be over. “Deliver me, O God!” And there is certainly nothing wrong with any of that. The writer in Psalm 116 praised God saying, “For You, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling …” Even here in Psalm 43, in verse 1 he prays, "Against a man of deceit and injustice deliver me." But I think I’m learning something even better, what he expresses here in verse 3 – the desire to see His face even in the trouble and to even find joy in seeing His face, in a sense oblivious to the trouble and whether it will or will not soon end. “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.”  One thing I ask. That I may dwell in the house of the Lord … all the days of my life.  Here in Psalm 43, the same sentiment is expressed, “Let [Your light and Your truth] guide me” not “out of this trouble” but rather “to the place where You dwell, into Your presence.”

In Psalm 27, David prayed “My heart says of You, ‘Seek His face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.” I think, I hope I’m finally learning what David means. To see His face is the best thing of all. As long as I can see Him, I find hope and strength to live by. I find the strength to love and to rise above myself. As long as I can see His face, He really does lift me up. When I can’t see His face or when I lose sight of it, that’s when my world, my heart goes dark. To see His face, to be in His presence, to be where He dwells, those are the greatest gifts to enjoy in this world. And again, what amazes my heart is how I can actually enjoy those things even while I’m suffering the slings and arrows of this world’s misfortunes.         

May I see Your face clearly all day today. Whether in trouble or not, may Your light and truth guide me each step of the way. And may my best destination be not to escape my troubles but rather to find myself enjoying Your presence. “… and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”