Seeking His presence

The beautiful language the psalmist uses is memorable: "and cause His face to shine upon us."

We find this theme in several other psalms. To have God's face "shining" on us is just the opposite of a scowling face. It's not an angry face. Not a worried face. It's a smile of love and blessings.

And to have His face shining towards us is the opposite of having Him turn His face away, too. No indifference. No disgust. No wrath. Not now. The songwriter means that God's favorable presence is with us, for us to enjoy.

Back in Psalm 27 we were reminded to seek His face and His presence:

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”

    Your face, Lord, I will seek. (Psalm 27:8) 

And He has promised us:

If you return to the Lord, then your fellow Israelites and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will return to this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him. (II Chronicles 30:9)

We see His face when we worship our Savior:

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. (II Corinthians 4:6)

There are three times in this psalm where the songwriter repeats the name of God in connection with having His blessing. You know, for me, this emphasizes that we cannot separate God Himself from the blessings He sends our way. After all, HE is the greatest blessing -- to have Him as our God. It's a fact that we can have all the blessings that the world values, but if we don't have God, we are not truly blessed. 
It's also true that we may not have much of anything that the world counts as blessings, but if we have God and His smiling face -- if we have His favor in His Son, Jesus Christ -- then we are truly and abundantly blessed!

We seek His blessings. We seek His presence. We seek His face.

We also seek to tell others, even other nations.

so that your ways may be known on earth,
    your salvation among all nations. (vs. 2)

In our era, we know even more of what the psalmist alluded to: because Christ told us to "go unto all" and tell His story. He wants us to spread the news. He will bless the persons and the church(es) who are reaching out to the people of the world. He will give power and joy so that we can accomplish the telling of the gospel. When we give to missions, and when we go ourselves, we are launching ourselves into the stream of blessings that is already flowing in the direction of those people who have not heard of Him.

It's alright to ask God for His blessings for ourselves. But our prayer should really be that God will bless us so that we (and our family, and our belongings and finances) can be used to further His glory among the people of this world. Whether locally or far away, it's the same principle that we see in the gospel of Matthew:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

We seek His blessings and His presence to enrich our own lives, and for the sake of others whom we may help.