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11/11 Reading Portions: 2 Kings 24; Hebrews 6; Joel 3; Psalm 143
Psalm 143:7
Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not Your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
PRESENCE
The Lord Jesus Christ knew an intimacy with God the Father like no other man could or would. The word translated “face” in our text can also be translated “presence.” In Hebrew, פָּנִים (pa-NEEYM), face and presence are synonymous. When the Lord Jesus hung upon the cross, the intimate presence of God, His face-to-face spiritual communion with the heavenly Father, was no longer there. While certainly God is omnipresent, and His holy presence cannot be absent from any place, His intimate, communing presence can be given or withheld according to His will and pleasure. Truly, God’s just and fearful presence pressed upon Jesus as our Messiah suffered God’s holy wrath for sins He did not commit. David’s prophetic psalm, then, is a grace bestowed upon us because of Christ’s sufferings. Because the Father had forsaken the Son (Psa 22:1), because God had hidden His face from Jesus when He hung upon the cross (Matt 27:46), by faith in Christ, you and I would not be like those who go down to the pit. Moreover, our verse today provides us insights into life’s dealings in our Christian faith. Like, David, we don’t always experience the intimate presence of Christ in our walk of faith. Our situations and circumstances can cause desperation (Answer me quickly, O LORD!). Trials, tribulations, and difficulties may become overwhelming (My spirit fails!). Life’s problems will distract us from intimate fellowship with our Savior (Hide not Your face from me). We can feel desperate and desolate (lest I be like those who go down to the pit). This is when we must, like the psalmist,
…remember the days of old; [and] meditate on all that [Jesus has] done; [and] ponder the work of [His nail-pierced] hands. Psalm 143:5
Because of Christ, because He was crucified, because He has risen and ascended into heaven, because He lives, His promise is steadfast and as sure as the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. For Jesus has promised,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
Hallelujah! What a faithful Savior!
