When you said, “Seek my face,” my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, Yahweh.”
Parallel Translations
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When you said, “Seek my face,” my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, Yahweh.”
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When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
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In Thy behalf my heart hath said: 'Seek ye My face'; Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Psalms 27:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 105:4 Seek Yahweh and his strength. Seek his face forever more.
- Jeremiah 29:12-13 You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.
- Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon.
- Psalms 119:58 I sought your favor with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to your word.
- Psalms 24:6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face—even Jacob.
- Psalms 63:1-2 God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water. So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory.
- Hosea 5:15 I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.”
- Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 8. My heart said to thee. The change of…
8. My heart said to thee. The change of person in the verbs has occasioned a variety of interpretations of this verse. But whoever closely examines David’s design will perceive that the text runs perfectly well. As it becomes us not rashly to rush into the presence of God, until he first calls us, David first tells us, that he carefully considered how gently and sweetly God prevents his people, by spontaneously inviting them to seek his face; and then, recovering his cheerfulness, he declares he would come wheresoever God may call him. The sense of the Hebrew word לך, leka, is somewhat ambiguous. It may mean the same thing as tibi, to thee, in Latin. But as the Hebrew letter ל, lamed, is often used for the preposition of, or concerning, it may properly enough be translated, my heart hath said of thee; an exposition to which the majority of interpreters incline. More probably, however, in my opinion, it denotes a mutual conversation between God and the prophet. I have just said, that no one can believingly rise to seek God until the way is first opened by God’s invitation, as I have elsewhere shown from the prophet’s declaration,
“I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God,” (Zechariah 13:9.)
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David accordingly says, that in this way the door was opened for him to seek God: he brings forward this promise, and thus responds, as it were, to God. Calvin’s meaning appears to be this:- God has given us in his word that gracious command or invitation, “Seek ye my face,” inviting us to seek him by prayer and the other exercises of religion. Now, when David says, “My heart said to thee, Seek ye my face,” he means that his heart reminded God of his command or invitation; and by this he encouraged himself to seek God’s face, which he expresses his resolution to do in the following clause, “Thy face, O Jehovah! will I seek.”
The term, face, is commonly explained to mean help or succor; as if it had been said, Seek me. But I am persuaded that the allusion here is also to the sanctuary, and that David refers to the mode of manifestation in which God was wont to render himself in some degree visible. No doubt, it is unlawful to form any gross or carnal idea of him, but as he appointed the ark of the covenant to be a token of his presence, it is, without any impropriety, every where denominated his face. It is indeed true, that we are far from God so long as we abide in this world, because faith is far removed from sight; but it is equally true, that we now see God as in a mirror, and darkly, (1 Corinthians 13:12,) until he shall openly show himself to us at the last day. Under this word, therefore, I am persuaded, are represented to us those helps by which God raises us to his presence, descending from his inconceivable glory to us, and furnishing us on earth with a vision of his heavenly glory. But as it is according to his own sovereign pleasure that God vouchsafes us to look upon him, (as he does in Word and sacraments,) it becomes us steadily to fix our eyes on this view, that it may not be with us as with the Papists, who, by means of the wildest inventions, wickedly transform God into whatever shapes please their fancy, or their brains have conceived.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He groundeth upon God’s promise, and showeth that he…
He groundeth upon God’s promise, and showeth that he is most willing to obey his commandment.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 27:8 [When thou saidst], Seek ye my face;…
Psa 27:8 [When thou saidst], Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
Ver. 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, &c.] Or, "My heart said unto thee" (or, for thee, and in thy stead), Let my face seek thy face, &c. Or concerning thee, said my heart; that is, I have constantly considered of those words of thine "Seek ye my face," and, therefore I come confidently unto thee. See Deu 4:19. Upon which commandment (involving a promise) David seems to ground this speech of his. R. Solomon hath it thus, Thou hast said to my heart, Seek ye my face; that is, Thou hast told me by thy Spirit that all Israel should seek thy face, and as for me, I will surely seek thy face.
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My heart said unto thee, &c.] My heart, moved and inspirited by thy Spirit working in me a gracious compliance, echoed out as it were, "Thy face," &c. See the like Jer 3:22, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God." Every godly person hath the duplicate of God’s law in his heart; and is willingly cast into the mould of his word, Rom 6:17.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain When thou saidst; either by thy word, commanding and…
When thou saidst; either by thy word, commanding and inviting me so to do; or by thy Spirit, directing and inclining me to it.
Seek ye my face, i.e. seek my presence, and favour, and help, by fervent and faithful prayer.
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My heart said unto thee; my heart readily and thankfully complied with the motion; and upon the encouragement of this command, or invitation and promise couched in it, I resolved I would do so, and do so at this time. But this verse is a little otherwise rendered by divers learned men. And the words lie in another order in the Hebrew text, which runs thus:
To thee my heart said, Thou hast said, (which verb may well be understood here, as it is also 1Ki 20:34, and as divers other verbs are understood in the sacred text, as Lev 24:8; 2Sa 18:12; 23:17, compared with 1Ch 11:19, and in many other places; which is not strange in so concise and short a language as the Hebrew is,)
Seek ye my face (this is thy great command, so oft and so vehemently urged, as containing the very substance and foundation of all true piety).
Thy face, Lord, I will seek; I cheerfully do and will obey thy command therein. Or the verse may be thus translated without any supplement, which, where it can be done, is confessedly the best way of translation: Concerning thee (as the particle lamed is oft used; or, for or instead of thee, as it is unquestionably used, Gen 11:3; Exo 13:16; Pro 21:18, i.e. in thy name and words, and according to thy mind)
my heart said, ( to wit, to or within myself, as the word said is frequently taken, i.e. I seriously consider within myself this following command of thine oft inculcated in thy word, and press it upon my own conscience,)
Seek ye my face. Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Thou commandest it, and I will obey thee therein.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain When thou saidst, seek ye my face,.... To seek…
When thou saidst, seek ye my face,.... To seek the face of the Lord is to attend his house and ordinances, where he grants his presence; and with this view to enjoy his gracious presence, and the light of his countenance, not being content with bare attendance without it; it is to seek the Lord himself, and communion with him through Christ, the brightness of his glory, and the Angel of his presence; for the right way of seeking the Lord is in Christ, who is the way of access to him, and of acceptance and fellowship with him; and that by prayer and supplication for his sake, and with all the heart and soul; and this the Lord calls upon his people to do, in his word, in his providences, and by his Spirit moving upon their hearts, and inclining them to it, as follows;
my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek: it is an encouragement to believers to seek the Lord when he calls them to it; for it is a command with promise, that they shall find him, see his face, and enjoy his favour; and he never says to any, "seek ye my face, in vain"; and they always find it good for them to draw nigh to him: and as it is the best way of seeking God, when the heart is engaged in it, so it is a token for good; and it looks as though the Lord had a mind to manifest himself, and grant the favour sought for, when he inclines the hearts of his people to pray unto him for it; and this the psalmist makes mention of as taking encouragement from it, to hope and believe that the Lord would hear and answer him, and have mercy on him; because he had bid him seek his face, and he found his heart ready to do it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face]…
Verse 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face] How much labour and skill have been employed to make sense of this verse as it stands in our translation! The original words are the following, from which our Version has been forcibly extracted: -
לך אמר לבי בקשו פני את פניך יהוה אבקש lecha amar libbi bakkeshu panai; eth paneycha, Yehovah, abakkesh; of which I believe the true rendering to be as follows: "Unto thee, my heart, he hath said, Seek ye my face. Thy face, O Jehovah, I will seek. O my heart, God hath commanded thee to seek his face." Then, his face I will seek. Which may be paraphrased thus: Unto thee, his Church, God hath said, Seek ye, all who compose it, my face. To which I, his Church, have answered, Thy face, O Jehovah, I will seek. On referring to Archbishop Secker, I find that he, and indeed Bishop Horsley, are of the same mind.
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I had formerly proposed another method of reading this difficult verse. Suspecting that some error had got into the text, for בקשו פני bakkeshu panay, "seek ye my face," I had substituted אבקש פניך abakkesh paneycha, "I will seek thy face;" or with the Vulgate and Septuagint, בקשתי פניך bakkesti paneycha, "I have sought thy face," exquisivit te facies mea, Εξεζητησα το προσωπον σου. And this small alteration seemed to make a good sense: "My heart said unto thee, I have sought thy face, (or, I will seek thy face,) and thy face, O Lord, I will seek." I have not only done what it was my duty and interest to do, but I will continue to do it. Some have proposed to mend the text thus: לך לך אמר לבי lech lecha, amar libbi, "Go to, saith my heart," נבקש פני יהוה nebakkesh peney Jehovah, "Let us seek the face of Jehovah." This is rather a violent emendation, and is supported by neither MSS. nor Versions. The whole verse is wanting in one of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. On the whole I prefer what is first proposed, and which requires no alteration in the text; next, that of the Vulgate and Septuagint.
The old Psalter paraphrases thus: Til the saide my hert, the my face soght: thy face, lord, I sal seke. "The gernyng of my hert that spekes til god, and he anely heres: saide til the my face, that es my presence soght the and na nother thyng. And fra now I sal seke thy face lastandly, til my dede; and that I fynd my sekyng:" i.e., To thee, said my heart; thee my face sought: thy face, O Lord, I shall seek. "The gerning of my hert, that spekes til God, and he anely heres, til the my face; that es, my presence soght the and no nother thyng: and fra now I sal seke thy face lastandly, til my dede, and that I fynd my sekyng:" i.e., The yearning strong desire of my heart, which speaks to God, and he alone hears; my face is to thee; that is, myself sought thee, and none other thing, and from now I shall seek thee lastingly till my death, and till that I find what I seek.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 27:8. When thou saidst — Either by thy…
Psa 27:8. When thou saidst — Either by thy word commanding or inviting me so to do; or, by thy Spirit directing and inclining me; Seek ye my face — Seek my presence, and favour, and help, by fervent, faithful prayer; my heart said unto thee — My heart readily and thankfully complied with the motion; and upon the encouragement of this command, or invitation, I resolved I would do so, and I do so at this time. As the words, when thou saidst, are not in the original, and as the verse is rather obscure, some think that the word Elohim, God, should be inserted, and then it may be rendered, To thee, O my heart, God said, Seek ye my face; thy face, Lord, will I seek. Dr. Waterland and Houbigant render it, To thee, said my heart, Seek ye my face; thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ... -…
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face ... - Margin, “My heart said unto thee, Let my face seek thy face.” The literal translation would be: “To Thee hath said my heart, Seek ye my face; thy face, O Lord, will I seek.” DeWette thus expresses the idea, “Of thee my heart thinks (in regard to the command to seek thy face), thy face, Lord, I will seek.” Our translators have given the correct meaning, though the original is quite obscure. The passage is designed to denote the state of the mind, or the disposition, in regard to the commands of God. The command or precept was to seek God. The prompt purpose of the mind or heart of the psalmist was, that he would do it. He “immediately” complied with that command, as it was a principle of his life - one of the steady promptings of his heart - that he would do this. The heart asked no excuse; pleaded for no delay; desired no reason for not complying with the command, but at once assented to the propriety of the law, and resolved to obey. This related undoubtedly at first to prayer, but the “principle” is applicable to all the commands of God. It is the prompting of a pious heart immediately and always to obey the voice of God, no matter what his command is, and no matter what sacrifice may be required in obeying it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The meaning is clear, though the construction in a…
The meaning is clear, though the construction in a literal translation is obscure. The English Version supplies the implied clause. To seek God's face is to seek His favor (Psa 105:4).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 8. The psalm here suddenly turns to a prayer…
8. The psalm here suddenly turns to a prayer for mercy. See the introduction.
Seek ye my face—The voice of God inviting David to freely seek the divine favour and help. The first act of grace to every man is a call to seek God.
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Thy face, Lord, will I seek—A beautiful illustration of prevenient grace, and of the following of the obedient soul, is here given.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 8. The A.V. gives the general sense fairly. But…
8. The A.V. gives the general sense fairly. But the text as it stands must be rendered:
Unto thee my heart hath said:
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‘Seek ye my face’; ‘Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek.’
In prayer from his innermost heart the Psalmist pleads the invitation which Jehovah addresses to His people, Seek ye my face; and responds to it on his own behalf, Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek. The construction is bold, but finds a parallel in Job_42:3-5, where in Psa_27:3 a, Psa_27:4 Job quotes the Lord’s words, and in Psa_27:3 b, 5 answers them. We need not assume a reference to any particular passage (e.g. Deu_4:29). The invitation is the sum of all revelation. Cp. Mat_7:7 ff.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (8) When thou saidst.—The margin rightly rejects these words,…
(8) When thou saidst.—The margin rightly rejects these words, and restores the order of the Hebrew; but the text of the Authorised Version really gives its meaning.
The thought seems borrowed from seeking admission to a royal personage to ask a favour.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart…
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. The order of the words in the original is as follows: "To thee said my heart Seek ye my face thy face, Lord, will I seek." And the full meaning seems to he, "To thee said my heart Hast thou said unto men, Seek ye my face? I for one will obey thee Thy face, Lord, will I seek." The command, "Seek ye my face," had been given by David to the people on the day that he set up the ark upon Mount Zion. (1Ch_16:11) It was probably regarded as implied in Deu_4:29.
The believing heart"s obedience to God"s command.
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"When thou saidst," etc. If we were to translate strictly word for word, we should read this verse, "To thee said my heart Seek ye my face thy face, Jehovah,! will seek." Our translators (and Revisers) have wisely preferred plain English to pedantic rigour, and have given as the probable meaning, "When thou saidst," etc. This, says Calvin, is a dialogue between the believing heart and God. He likens the Divine invitation, "Seek ye my face," to the key wherewith faith opens the door for prayer. "Without this prelude, no one shall lead the chorus of prayer." The reply of the heart he likens to the echo sleeping in silence, till the voice calls it forth.
I WHAT IS MEANT BY SEEKING GOD"S FACE?
1. To seek the favour of God; q.d. his pardoning mercy, the smile of his approval, the assurance of his loving-kindness, the happy, peaceful sense of his presence and care. There is a notion in many minds that because God is love, he must love all alike as he dispenses rain and sunshine to all alike good and bad, lovely and hateful; and that because he is just, he must treat all alike. Such views can be upheld neither from Scripture nor from common sense. Justice lies not in treating all alike, but in treating each according to character and conduct. Love that can see no fault is as blind as hate that can see no goodness. A face that wears the same bland meaningless smile to every one is intolerable. To suppose that God has no more approval and love for a Christian mother training her child to love him, or a Christian martyr dying for truth, than for a seducer, a thief, an assassin, is to deny God"s moral character. It is to substitute an idol of fancy for the living God. The whole gospel hinges on this. God"s universal love is shown in the provision whereby each sinner may seek and receive his favour. (Joh_3:16 Rom_5:1, Rom_5:2, Rom_5:10, Rom_5:11)
2. To seek to know God. When we look into one another"s faces, we read the soul. Smiles and frowns and tears, the flash of pleasure or of anger, the softening of tender feeling, speak a language which all read intuitively. In its fulness, any such direct knowledge of God is impossible for us. (Exo_33:18, Exo_33:20) But Jesus is to us as the-Face of God. (2Co_4:6 Heb 1:3Jo Heb 1:18) God"s character is revealed; while the Divine glory is veiled and softened to suit our weakness. (Joh_14:9 1Co_13:12 Mat_5:8)
3. To have fellowship with God; personal communion. (1Jn_1:3) This leads to a second question
II HOW Is THIS COMMAND TO BE OBEYED; this invitation accepted; this purpose carried out; this fellowship experienced?
1. By prayer. Looking at vers. 4-6, we may suppose a reference to the temple, with its twofold service of sacrifice and praise. But we must not limit the words to this. They are the language of a heart that waits in secret on God. (Mat_6:6)
2. By the study of Gods Word. The whole Bible is the record of God"s continuous revelation of himself; partly in words laws, declarations, predictions, promises; partly in his dealings with nations, with individuals, with his Church; completely and most gloriously in Christ Jesus his Person, teaching, atoning death, resurrection, enthronement in glory. If we would gain the knowledge spoken of, (2Pe_3:18) we must observe the condition. (Col_3:16) They that seek shall find. (Isa_49:4-9 Jer_29:13)
(Second sermon) The reward of diligent search.
"My heart said," etc. "Seek, and ye shall find," is one of the great laws of life. The miner must dig for the precious ore; the fisherman launch out into the deep, and let down his nets for a draught; the husbandman must plough and sow and have long patience, if he is to reap. How is it that in these days the secrets of nature have been laid bare as never before? Because men have sought as they never sought before. And why, in the midst of these discoveries, have so many keen eyes failed to find God? Because they have not sought. (Jer_29:13)
I THE LANGUAGE OF FAITH, LAYING HOLD ON GOD"S PROMISE. Faith is trust. We do not trust God because we believe his Word, but believe his promise because we trust him. (Heb_11:6) But he has not left us to vague trust (reasonable though that would have been). He has filled the Bible with promises "exceeding great and precious". (Isa_4:1, 6 Jer_29:11-14 Luk_11:9) We need not ask what particular reference lies in "when thou saidst." God is always saying it.
II THE LANGUAGE OF OBEDIENCE TO GOD"S COMMAND. The invitation of a king is a command. Every promise carries in its bosom a duty; every duty, a promise.
III THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE. "My heart said." The utterance of holy desire, longing after communion with God. Prayer is more than simple asking; it is communion of spirit with our Father and our Saviour, by the Holy Ghost. (Mat_6:6 Jud_1:20)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 8. In this verse we are taught that…
Ver. 8. In this verse we are taught that if we would have the Lord hear our voice, we must be careful to respond to his voice. The true heart should echo the will of God as the rocks among the Alps repeat in sweetest music the notes of the peasant's horn. Observe, that the command was in the plural, to all the saints, Seek ye; but the man of God turned it into the singular by a personal application, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. The voice of the Lord is very effectual where all other voices fail. When thou saidst, then my heart, my inmost nature was moved to an obedient reply. Note the promptness of the responseno sooner said than done; as soon as God said "seek, "the heart said, "I will seek." Oh, for more of this holy readiness! Would to God that we were more plastic to the divine hand, more sensitive of the touch of God's Spirit.
Ver. 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. In the former verse, David begins a prayer to God, "Hear, O Lord; have mercy upon me, and answer me." This verse is a ground of that prayer, Seek ye my face, saith God. The heart answers again, Thy face, Lord, will I seek; therefore I am encouraged to pray to thee. In the words are contained God's command and David's obedience. God's warrant and David's work answerable, the voice and the echo: the voice, "Seek my face; "the rebound back again of a gracious heart, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek." "When thou saidst." It is not in the original. It only makes way to the sense. Passionate speeches are usually abrupt: "Seek my face:" "Thy face, Lord, will I seek." ...
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God is willing to be known. He is willing to open and discover himself; God delights not to hide himself. God stands not upon state, as some emperors do that think their presence diminishes respect. God is no such God, but he may be searched into. Man, if any weakness be discovered, we can soon search into the depth of his excellency; but with God it is clean otherwise. The more we know of him, the more we shall admire him. None admire him more than the blessed angels, that see most of him, and the blessed spirits that have communion with him. Therefore he hides not himself, nay, he desires to be known; and all those that have his Spirit desire to make him known. Those that suppress the knowledge of God in his will, what he performs for men, and what he requires of them, they are enemies to God and of God's people. They suppress the opening of God, clean contrary to God's meaning; "Seek my face; "I desire to be made known, and lay open myself to you. Therefore we may observe by the way, that when we are in any dark condition, that a Christian finds not the beams of God shining on him, let him not lay the blame upon God, as if God were a God that delighted to hide himself. Oh, no! it is not his delight. He loves not strangeness to his poor creatures. It is not a point of his policy. He is too great to affect (Choose=love) such poor things. No; the fault is altogether in us. We walk not worthy of such a presence; we want humility and preparation. If there be any darkness in the creature, that he finds God doth not so shine on him as in former times, undoubtedly the cause is in himself; for God saith, "Seek my face." He desires to reveal himself. Richard Sibbes.
Ver. 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, etc. All the Spirit's motions are seasonable, and therefore not to be put off; for delay is a kind of denial, and savours of such ungrateful contempt, as must needs be very displeasing to him. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. God does not only expect such an answer, but expects it immediately upon his call. Whenever he blows with his wind, he looks that we should spread our sails. If we refuse his offered help, we may deservedly want it when desired. As Christ withdrew himself from the spouse because she let him stand knocking so long at the door of her heart, and she still deferred to open, and tired out his loving forbearance with vain and frivolous excuses. So 5:2, etc. But as we must not omit the present performance of any duty which he excites unto, we must not check his influences by being weary of the duties which he assists us in: if we do not improve extraordinary aids by holding out the longer, we provoke him to depart. Timothy Cruso.
Ver. 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, etc. We see here thus much, that God must begin with us, before we can close with him; God must seek us, before we can seek him; God must first desire that we draw near to him, before we for our particulars are able to draw near unto God. Thou saidst, Seek my face; and then and not till then my heart said, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Thomas Horton.
Ver. 8. When thou saidst, etc. Now God then speaks to the heart to pray when not only he puts upon the duty by saying to the conscience, This thou oughtest to do; but God's speaking to pray is such as his speech at first was, when he made the world, when he said, "Let there be light, and there was light:" so he says, let there be a prayer, and there is a prayer; that is, he pours upon a man a spirit of grace and supplication, a praying disposition; he puts in motives, suggests arguments and pleas to God; all which you shall find come in readily, and of themselves, and that likewise with a quickening heat and enlargement of affection, and with a lingering and longing, and restlessness of spirit to be alone, to pour out the soul to God, and to vent and form those motions and suggestions into a prayer, till you have laid them together, and made a prayer of them. And this is a speaking to the heart. Observe such times when God doth thus, and neglect them not, then to strike whilst the iron is hot; thou hast then his ear; it is a special opportunity for that business, such a one as thou mayest never have the like. Suitors at court observe molissima fandi tempora, their times of begging when they have kings in a good mood, which they will be sure to take the advantage of; but especially if they should find that the king himself should begin of himself to speak of the business which they would have of him: and thus that phrase of Ps 10:17, that God prepares the heart, is understood by some, that God prepares the heart, and causeth the ear to hear; that is, he fashions it and composes it into a praying frame. And sure it is a great sign that God means to hear us when himself shall thus indite the petition. Thomas Goodwin.
Ver. 8. When thou saidst, etc. And well may this be pleaded, in that God useth not so to stir up and strengthen us to seek him, but when he intends to be found of us. Ps 10:17. "Thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear." Jer 29:13. "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." And God maketh it an argument to himself, that if he say to any inwardly as well as outwardly, Seek my face, he that speaketh righteousness cannot speak thus to them, and frustrate their prayers, and so bid them seek his face in vain. Isa 45:19, "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain; I the Lord speak right things." If Ahasuerus bid his spouse to ask, surely he will not fail to grant her petition Es 7:2; so here. And as when Christ called the blind man to come to him to tell him his grievance, it was truly said to him by them, "Be of good comfort, rise, for he calleth thee." Mr 10:49. So it is in this case. Thomas Cobbett.
Ver. 8. My heart said unto thee. The heart is between God and our obedience, as it were, an ambassador. It understands from God what God would have done, and then it lays a command upon the whole man. The heart and conscience of man is partly divine, partly human. It hath some divinity in it, especially if the man be a holy man. God speaks, and the heart speaks. God speaks to the heart, and the heart speaks to us. And ofttimes when we hear conscience speaking to us, we neglect it; and as St. Augustine said of himself, "God spake often to me, and I was ignorant of it." When there is no command in the word that the heart directly thinks of (as indeed many profane careless men scarce have a Bible in their houses), God speaks to them thus; conscience speaks to them some broken command, that they learn against their wills. They heed it not, but David did not so. God said, Seek ye my face: his heart answers, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek." The heart looks upward to God, and then to itself, My heart said. It said to thee and then to itself. First, his heart said to God, "Lord, I have encouragement from thee. Thou hast commanded that I should seek thy face." So his heart looked to God, and then it speaks to itself. Thy face, Lord, will I seek. It looks first to God, and then to all things that come from itself. Richard Sibbes.
Ver. 8. There are diverse things considerable of us in this answer and compliance of David's with God's command or invitation to him. First, it was seasonable, and in due time; presently does David make this return: "Thy face, Lord, will I seek." This is the property and disposition of every wise and prudent Christian, to close with the very first opportunities of God's invitation. Secondly, this answer, as it was seasonable and present, so it was also full and complete; the performance was proportionable to the injunction. Ye shall have some kind of people in the world that God bids them do one thing and they will be sure to do the quite contrary; or, at least, not do as much as the should do, but do it by halves. But, now, here David makes return to God in the full extent and proportion of obedience. God said, Seek my face, and he answered Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Thirdly, it was real, and entire, and sincere; "My heart said." It is one thing to say it with the mouth, and it is another thing to say it with the heart. With the mouth it is quite easy and ordinary, and nothing more usual. Lord, thy face will we seek, especially in any trouble or calamity, which is incident unto us; but for the heart to say it, that is not so frequent. Fourthly, it was settled and peremptory. "Thy face will I seek; "there is nothing shall hinder me of it, or keep me from it, but I will do it against all opposition. Lastly, this protestation of David was absolute and indefinite and unlimited; "I will seek thy face; "without prescription of time, or place, or condition; not only now, but hereafter: not only for a time, but for ever, in all seasons, in all estates, in all circumstances, still I shall keep me to thisto hold my communion with thee. Then are we Christians, indeed, when we are so immutably and irreversibly and independently upon the opinions or practices of any other person. Condensed from Thomas Horton.
Ver. 8. God hath promised his favour, and, therefore, his people may seek his favour. Nay, he hath commanded his people to seek his favour, and therefore they should seek it. It is an unadvised folly, during the suspension of God's favour, to unson ourselves, and unpeople ourselves, i.e., by denying the grace and spiritual relation which exist between us and God. That is not the way to gain favour; for when we have undone our relation of children we exclude ourselves from the expectation of favour. No, the wisest and surest way is to seek the renewing of God's loving countenance, and not to be driven away from God by our unbelief. Obadiah Sedgwick, in "The Doubting Believer, "1653.
Ver. 8. The heart in tune with its God. Note, the promptness, heartiness, personality, unreservedness, accuracy, and resolution of the response to the precept.
Ver. 8. The successful seeker. R. Sibbe's Sermon.
Ver. 8. The echo. See Spurgeon's Sermons. No. 767.
Psalms 27:9*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart…
Psa_27:8
When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
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A sweet echo
One of the sweetest marvels of nature is the echo. It is natures poetry that charms and captivates the mind. Standing, some years back, on a lone mountain side, with giant peaks towering up above on every side, I broke the intense silence with a shout. There was a moments pause, and then those silent mountains found tongue. From side to side a very artillery was maintained. Echo awoke echo, and a second only gave birth to a third. But there is another echo--that of the heart; the souls response to the call of God. We have such in the text. Let us consider--
I. the call.
1. It is one we often find it very difficult to hear. For the world is not as a silent glen, or lone mountain side, but a very Babel of confused noises.
2. Still it is not impossible to hear it. The ear rightly attuned will hear it, clear as a silver bell, ringing out its note above the surrounding din of business and common cares.
3. But some have never yet heard it, and those who do, hear it in different degrees. There are some persons naturally calm and contemplative, that dwell with Mary at the Masters feet, and who seem ever to hear it; but there are others, anxious to hear it, but the very clatter of their preparations fill the ear to the exclusion of the Saviours Word.
4. It comes to us by different instrumentalities. By His Word. The means of grace--the Sabbath especially. The Mercy Seat. The manifold goodness of God in His providence. By trials. By the influence of the Spirit.
II. the echo.
1. It is one of the heart. My heart said, etc. You may read the Word, utter the prayer, keep the Sabbath, and yet there be no heart in it. Like a waxwork figure moved by machinery, you may nod, and smile, and lift up your hands, and yet not have one iota of life. Let us ask how has it been with us in the past?
2. Now let me give some closing counsels. Be ever listening to hear the voice. When you hear it give the echo at once. When Thou saidst, Seek ye, etc., My heart said, etc. When the voice says to you, Pray, pray at once. Rest assured you shall, if you seek the Lords face, never be disappointed. I have never said to the seeking seed of Jacob, Seek ye My face in vain. (A. G. Brown.)
The voice and the echo
I. the reference.
1. How brief it is. Though a text of but four syllables, it is in itself a Bible; so much is in it, and this much so good. Plainly faith does not require the complete revelation of the Bible to warrant and sustain its exercise. In general, it is not a long passage, but a short) sentence, like the point of an arrow striking the mark, or the edge of a sword cutting through and through by a single blow, that does it.
2. How precise it is. It admits no vagueness, no ambiguity, no uncertainty.
3. How affectionate it is. What condescension, benignity, loving-kindness.
II. the response.
1. How practical it is. It does what is required--readily, hopefully.
2. How simple it is. Voice answering to voice, heart echoing to heart.
3. How cordial it is.
III. the connection between them.
1. The reference elicits the response.
2. The response fulfils the reference. (E. A. Thomson.)
The Divine call and the human response
I. the divine call. It suggests to us--
1. The spiritual condition of unsaved men. They are estranged from God. They have built up between themselves and their Creator an icy cold barrier of heartless indifference, or else an almost impregnable wall of dearly loved sins. This separation is the fruitful cause of all possible misery and destitution, for there is no hell of woe that can give greater pain to human spirits than the consciousness of their apostacy from God.
2. The condescending grace of God in His dealings with unsaved men. He speaks to them, makes gracious overtures, and sends them a message, tender with sympathy, rich in mercy, and pregnant in the promise and potency of a pure and vigorous spiritual life. S. The nature of true religion. It is the heart of man coming back to God.
II. the human response.
1. Personal. In some things men move in masses without any realization of individual responsibility. It is not so with this momentous question. There is no rest for the sin-troubled heart until it personally turns to God. Personal submission is needed to put our hearts into a right condition for receiving Divine grace. Personal faith brings to our hearts the saving and sanctifying influence of the Spirit. And personal love to the Divine Father is the only guarantee that our peace is made with Him.
2. Prompt. Procrastination is full of danger, it is not only the thief of time, but also the rock of peril upon which many good-intentioned souls have struck and perished. The Ancients taught a solemn truth when they represented Time as an old man with wings on his shoulders, a scythe and hour-glass in his hands, and on his wrinkled forehead one lock of hair, all bald behind, and therefore offering no hope to us when it is past. Let us then seize time by the forelock.
3. Explicit. Men will do anything rather than make an uncompromising surrender. They will turn over a new leaf, sign the pledge, attend the sanctuary, and even take the sacrament. All these are good and right in their place, but they are no substitute for salvation, they cannot set the heart at peace. Any one who tries to make them a compound between God and his own conscience will fail.
4. Sincere. It came from the heart. It is related of a Greek musician that his touch was so delicate and his ear so quick that he would often play a tune on his harp that only his own ear could catch. Whether fact or fable, this incident illustrates Gods intercourse with mens hearts. You hear the preacher, but he does not hear your response to his appeal. God always hears it. He is speaking to you now, and His ear is close to your heart, listening to what it will say. (W. Wheeler.)
A call and a response
We have here a report of a brief dialogue between God and a devout soul. The psalmist tails us of Gods invitation and of his acceptance, and on both he builds the prayer that the face which he had been bidden to seek, and had sought, may not be hid from him.
I. Gods merciful call to us all. Seek ye My face. Have we to search for that as if it were something hidden, far off, lost, and only to be recovered by our effort? No! a thousand times. For the seeking to which God mercifully admits us is but the turning of the direction of our desires to Him, the recognition of the fact that His face is more than all else to men, the recognition that whilst there are many that say, Who will show us any good? and ask the question impatiently, despairingly, vainly, they that turn the seeking into a prayer, and ask, Lord I lift Thou the light of Thy countenance upon us, will never ask in vain. By the very make of our own spirits He calls us to Himself. You remember the old story of the Saracen woman who came to England seeking her lover, and passed through these foreign cities with no word upon her tongue that could be understood of those that heard her except the name that she sought. Ah! That is how men wander through the earth, strangers in the midst of it. They cannot translate the cry of their own hearts, but it means, God--my soul thirsteth for Thee: and the thirst bids us seek His face. He summons us by all the providences and events of our changeful lives. Our sorrows, by their poignancy, our joys, by their incompleteness and their transiency alike, callus to Him in whom alone the sorrows can be soothed and the joys made full and remain. Our duties, by their heaviness, call us to turn ourselves to Him, in whom alone we can find the strength to fill the role that is laid upon us, and to discharge our daily tasks. But, most of all, He summons us to Himself by Him who is the angel of His face, the effulgence of His glory, and the express image of His person.
II. the devout souls response. The psalmist takes the general invitation and converts it into an individual one, to which he responds. Gods ye is met by his I. The psalmist makes no hesitation or delay--When Thou saidst . . . my heart said to Thee. The psalmist gathers himself together in a concentrated resolve of a fixed determination--Thy face will I seek. That is how we ought to respond. Make the general invitation thy very own. God summons all, because He summons each. Again, the psalmist made haste, and delayed not, but made haste to respond to the merciful summons. Ah! how many of us, in how many different ways, fall into the snare by and by I not now; and all these days that slip away whilst we hesitate gather themselves together to be our accusers hereafter. It is poor courtesy to show to a merciful invitation from a bountiful host to say, After I have looked to the oxen I have bought, and tested them, and measured the field that I have acquired; after I have drunk the sweetness of wedded life with the wife that I have married, then I will come. But, for the present, I pray thee, have me excused. And that is what we all are doing, more or less. The psalmist gathered himself together in a fixed resolve, and said, I will! That is what we have to do. A languid seeker will not find; an earnest one will not fail to find.
III. A prayer built upon both the invitation and the acceptance. Hide not Thy face far from me. That prayer implies that God will not contradict Himself. His promises are commandments. If He bids us seek He binds Himself to show. His veracity, His unchangeableness, are pledged to this, that no man who yields to His invitation will be baulked of his desire. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The accepted call
I. Gods call. Seek ye My face.
1. It teaches that peace with God is not a human device, but a Divine revelation. Thou saidst. True religion originates with God.
2. Indicates what religion is. Seek ye My face,--not My Church, or Book, or ministers, but Me.
3. It implies estrangement. Seek.
4. That estrangement may cease.
II. mans reply. Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
1. Personal. I.
2. Prompt. When Thou saidst.
3. Emphatic. Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
4. Thorough. Reply, almost an echo of call. David practically said, I mean just what God means.
5. It came from right place. My heart said. Lips lie, heart never. (T. Kelly.)
The call and the response
I. the call that comes to you--Seek ye My face. Many reasons urge you to listen to this call. Amongst the chief is--
1. The character and condescension of the Saviour from whom the call comes.
2. The Divine love that prompts 2:8. It is the assurance of blessing--Divine, precious, abundant, everlasting. How poor is the mirth of the prodigal, how soon it all fades I There is no blessing for such until they come back to God.
II. the response.
1. It is a true response. It is the very echo of the call, like the echo of a trumpet amid mountains.
2. It is personal.
3. Hearty.
4. Immediate.
5. Decided--Thy face will I seek.
Conclusion--
1. What if you do not seek God?
2. What if you do? (J. P. Chown.)
The echo
Ready response to Gods call is--
1. The natural duty of man.
2. But is nevertheless the work of the Holy Spirit.
3. And is an evidence of election unto salvation. Now concerning this spirit of response to God--
I. its too frequent absence. In so many and for so long, though at times it has been disturbed. For Christ stands at the door, and knocks. Beware of resisting God.
II. its cultivation. It should be our constant spirit, prompt to obey whenever God calls. See call of apostles (Luk_5:1-12). See, too, the personality of Davids reply, and hearty likewise. And there was full resolve in it. Such echo of Gods word is very sweet, like the echo of music amongst the hills.
III. its special outlet. The seeking of Gods face. God is over calling us to this. Let our days be more filled up with this blessed work.
IV. its reward, The margin reads--My heart said unto Thee, Let my face seek Thy face. It means that the reward of such seeking is blessed communion with God, the joy of Eden restored to us. Our first parents had communion with God, which they lost by sin; but it is now more than restored to us in grace. (C. H, Spurgeon.)
Seeking the face of God
There appears to be a good deal of autobiography in this psalm, David in his backward glance fixes on two objects. The past as illumined by Gods favour, and the past as his own wherein he strove to love and serve God. And from both he draws encouragement to hope that God will be the same, and he humbly resolves that He will be,
I. Gods voice to the heart--Seek ye My face, The expression is of course figurative. But the most spiritual conception of God is reached, not by a pedantic scrupulosity in avoiding material representations, but by an unhesitating use of these, and the remembrance that they are representations. The unsubstantial abstraction of the metaphysical God, described only in terms as far removed as may be from human analogies, for fear of being guilty of anthropomorphism, never helped or gladdened any human soul. It is but a bit of mist through which you can see the stars shining. But the God whom we need and can know and love, comes to us in descriptions Cast in the mould of humanity, and loses none of His purely Spiritual essence thereby. The face of the Lord means the same as the name of the Lord, and both mean the manifested character of God. If these things be true, then we may learn what it is to seek His face. We do not need long and painful search, as for something lost in dim darkness, in order to find the sun. We do not need to seek the sun with lanterns, nor to grope after God if haply we may find Him. A man need only come out of his dark hiding-place to find it. If he will but turn his face to the light, the glory will brighten his features and make glad his eyes. And, in like manner, to seek Gods face is no long, dubious search, nor is He hard to be found. Endeavour, then, to keep vivid the consciousness of that face as looking always in on you, like the solemn frescoes of the Christ which Angelico painted on the walls of his convent cells, that each poor brother might feel his Master ever with him. Make Him your companion, and then, though you may feel the awe of the thought, Thou hast set our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance, you will find a joy deeper than the awe, and learn the blessedness of those, sinful though they may be, who walk in the full brightness of that face.
II. the hearts echo to the voice of God. My heart said unto Thee, Thy face, etc. Immediate, as the thunder to the lightning, the answer follows the invitation. And it needs to be so. If we delay the response it is apt never to be made at all. The first notes of the Divine voice have more persuasive power than after the heart has become familiar with them, even as the first song of the thrush in spring, that breaks the long wintry silence, has a sweetness all its own. The echo answers as soon as the mother-voice ceases. But too many of us hesitate and delay. The only safety, the only peace lies in prompt obedience and in an immediate answer. There is also brought out here very plainly the complete correspondence between the Divine command and the devout mans resolve. Word for word the invitation is repeated in the answer. Like the sailor at the tiller, he answers his captains directions by repeating them. Port, says the officer. Port it is, says the steersman. Seek ye My face. Thy face will I seek. The correspondence in words means the correspondence in action and the thorough-going obedience. How unlike the half-and-half seeking, the languid search, as of people listlessly looking-for something which they do not much expect to find, and do not much care whether they find or no, which characterizes so many so-called Christians! They are seekers after God, are they? Yes, with less eagerness than they would seek for a sovereign if it had fallen from their fingers into the mud. Note, too, the firm and decisive resolution shining through the very brevity of the words. In the original the brevity--three words only--is yet more marked. Fixed resolves need short professions. A Spartan brevity, as of a man with his lips tightly linked together, is fitting for such purposes. Waverers and the feeble willed try to brace themselves up by talking, making a fence of words around them. But if we are quite resolved, we shall, for the most part, say little about it. What a contrast is this clear resolve to the indecisions and hesitations so common amongst us! The ship heads now one way and now another, and that not because we are wisely tacking--that is to say, seeking to reach one point by widely-varying courses--but because our hand is so weak on the helm that we drift, wherever the wash of the waves and the buffets of the wind carry us. Further, we have in this hearts echo to the voice of God the conversion of a general invitation into a personal resolution. The call is, Seek ye. The answer is, I will seek. That is what we have all to do with Gods words. He sows His invitations broadcast; we have to make them our own. He sends out His mercy for a world; we have to claim each our portion. He issues His commands to all; I have to make them the law for my life. The stream flows deep and broad from the throne of God, and parts into four heads, the number expressive of universal diffusion throughout the world; but I have to bring it into my own garden by my own trench, and to carry it to my own lip in my own cup.
III. the hearts cry to God founded on both the divine voice and the human echo.
Hide not Thy face far from me is clearly a prayer built upon both these elements in the past. Both give me the right to pray thus, and are pledges of the answer. As to the former, Thou saidst, Seek ye My face. You may have exactly as much of God as you want and desire. Then seek His face evermore, and your life will be bright because you will walk in the light of His countenance always. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Face to face with God
The law of creation and of salvation are one, one thing. Both are a process of generation--regeneration. The suns face and the earths face must be brought together, in full relationship, and then creation is inevitable. So Gods Spirit and mans spirit being brought face to face, the new creation of the soul is inevitable. The sun says to the planets, Children--for they are all children of the sun--seek ye my face. The planets reply, We will; thy face will we seek. We are cold, dreary, bloomless, barren, we will seek thy face. And forthwith they climb, and climb, a six months climb from January to June, to the zenith, to the meeting face to face. What then? All that summer and harvest means follows. It is a parable of the souls salvation. But it is only a parable: infinitely greater and more glorious is the summer which results from the direct relationship of the spirit-face of God and the spirit-face of man; the all-giving face of an infinite Creator, Lord, Father, Saviour, and the receiving faces of His sons and daughters. The most god-like centre of all the glory of God is His own human face. It creates all faces, the angels; for the face of an angel is one that has been so long receiving Gods glory that it has become lovely. The face of God is the express image of His personality. Your face is not your person, but I see what sort of person you are by your face. Face to face relationship means the exchange of personal thought and feeling, friendship, closest intimacy. All the beauty in the universe comes from the light of Gods face. The face of God, the personal face of the personal God, is the meaning of the universe and man. The power that comes from that we call Christ. And He is in every heart. So that the dear mother in the interior of Africa when she was first told about Christ, said, Oh, that is the name that I have seen in my dreams, one that loves me and comes to me; the beautiful man of the heavens. And God says, Seek ye My face at the time that our heart is most disposed to hear it. In your sorrow; at death. (J. Pulsford.)
An invitation and reply
We are told here that God spoke to the psalmist and what was his reply, but we have no intimation as to the mode of intercourse: whether God spoke through providential dealings, or through the ordinances of the Church, or by His Spirit. And it does not matter. If there be various methods in and through which God is wont to make Himself audible to the human soul, we may take any or all of them as employed to syllable the words, Seek ye My face. As to the mode in which the psalmist replied, nothing need be said in explanation of that; the reply itself is the all important thing. It is a conversation between God and the soul, very brief and with no kind of variety, but full of instruction nevertheless. We will, therefore, endeavour to sift this conversation; not only examining the precise meaning of what God directs and man promises, but searching out, also what may be more incidentally but not less decisively taught. Now observe--
I. that in the reply man does little more than repeat the words of God. God says, Seek ye My face; man replies, Thy face, Lord, etc. Now the disposition thus distinctly marked is one the want of which is at the root of half the practical unbelief and miserable inconsistencies by which the visible Church is deformed. Men acknowledge the Divine authority of the Scriptures, but hesitate and cavil as to obeying them. What could be more inconsistent and unreasonable? If God speaks and men know and confess it, then what else is there for them but to obey? Nevertheless they do not obey. Even professedly religious men do not. They object, and deliberate, and find excuse; they do anything but obey. Now it is the very opposite of this which we find here. There falls upon the ear--no matter how--a message which David feels to be from God. It is not a message about which there can be no room for question as to its meaning and the manner in which it should be obeyed. But the observable and admirable thing is, that David did not wait to deliberate, but instantly made his resolution upon hearing Gods injunction.
II. observe that God addresses us in plural number, but mans reply is in the singular. Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Now the individualizing Gods Word, the taking it individually to oneself, as though designed for oneself, and spoken to oneself--this is very closely connected with the whole practice and the whole comfort of religion. For example, the human race is addressed in Scripture as fallen and depraved--far gone from original righteousness, inclined only to iniquity and that too continually. Well, so long as you speak to a man as a man, merely as being one of a sinful kind, one whose sinfulness, like the colour of his skin, he has in common with millions around him, he will generally quite complacently meet the accusation. It will hardly touch him. He may confess to the fact, but give in his confession with a smile. When, however, you try to single him out from the mass; when you speak to him like Nathan to David--Thou art the man! then he is full of indignation and resentment, and with Hazael of old is ready to exclaim--Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing? Yet, till a man thus separates himself, takes himself out of the mass--feels and confesses without any regard to his being one of a multitude, I have gone astray, like a lost sheep, till then he has nothing of that feeling of being a sinner that will lead to genuine repentance. Oh! it is so easy to join in a general confession; the hard thing is to make the confession individual. And so with the precepts of Scripture. When they are delivered in the plural they can be listened to with great composure. But make the precept individual and personal, then what shrinking there is, what aversion, what refusal! Reduce therefore piety to a personality. The call may be general--Seek ye; the answer must be individual--I will! No being content with the confession of masses and multitudes! Alone thou must stand in judgment; alone thou must take thy resolution. When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, O Lord, it may have been to the millions that Thy voice was addressed; it may have been by millions that that mighty voice was heard; but I paused not to know whether these millions would keep silence; whether they would join in one vast refusal, or in one vast consent; at once--on the instant--whatever the millions might determine to do, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
III. what is it to seek Gods face? The more ordinary signification of the phrase, the face of God, is the love and favour of God--Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant. Cause Thy face to shine and we shall be saved. How much, then, is implied in this simple bidding--Seek ye My face! God would have us come back to Himself. Manifold are the methods by which God thus addresses us. But how often His message is heard and refused, and how terrible if this refusal be persisted in! But if obeyed, then how blessed are we! (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The successful seeker
In the former verse David prays, Hear, O Lord, etc. Now this verse is a ground of that prayer, for God had said to him, Seek My face, and he had replied, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Note--
I. Gods command.
1. God shows Himself to His understanding creature. But why should God bid men seek Him? Because He would have men worship Him, and in order to this God must show him how He will be served. It may be objected that everything proclaims this, to seek God. Though God had not spoken, nor His Word, every creature hath a voice to say, Seek God. All His benefits have that voice to say, Seek God. Everything hath a voice. We know Gods nature somewhat in the creature, that He is a powerful, a wise, a just God. We see it by the works of creation and providence; but if we should know His nature, and not His will towards us--His commanding will, what He will have us do; and His promising will, what He will do for us--except we have a ground for this from God, the knowledge of His nature is but a confused knowledge; it serves but to make us inexcusable, as in Rom_1:19 it is proved at large. It is too confused to be the ground of obedience, unless the will of God be discovered before; therefore we must know the mind of God.
2. God is willing to be known. God delights not to hide Himself. God stands not upon state, as some emperors do that think their presence diminisheth respect. God is no such God, but He may be searched into. Man, if any weakness be discovered, we can soon search into the depth of his excellency; but with God it is clean otherwise. The more we know of Him, the more we shall admire Him. None admire Him more than the blessed angels, that see most of Him, and the blessed spirits that have communion with Him. Therefore He hides not Himself, nay, He desires to be known; and all those that have His Spirit desire to make Him known.
3. Gods goodness is a communicative, spreading goodness. Two things make us very like God, that much concern this point: to do things freely of ourselves, and to do them far. To communicate goodness, and to communicate it far to many. The greater the fire is, the further it burns; the greater the love is, the further it extends and communicates itself. There are none more like God than those that communicate what good they have to others, and communicate it as far and remote as they can to extend it to many.
4. The ground of all obedience, of all holy intercourse with God, is a spirit of application. Applying the truths of God, though generally spoken, to ourselves in particular, if we do not--as indeed it is the fault of the times to hear the Word of God loosely--we care not so much to hear the Word of God, as to hear the gifts of men. We desire to hear fine things, to increase notions. We delight in them, and to hear some empty creature, to fasten upon a story or some phrases by the bye. Alas I you come here to hear duties and comforts, if you be good, and sentences against you, if you be naught. We speak Gods threatenings to you that will wound you to hell, except you pull them out by repentance. It is another manner of matter to hear than it is took for. Take heed how you hear, saith Christ (Luk_8:18). So we had need, for the Word that we hear now shall judge us at the latter day. Thereupon we should labour for a spirit of application, to make a right use of it as we should. For if we do not, we dishonour God and His bounty and give joy to the devil, for the devil rejoiceth when he seeth what excellent things are laid open in the Church of God, in the ministry, what sweet promises and comforts, but here is nobody to take them and lay hold on them; like a table that is richly furnished, and there is nobody comes and takes it. It makes the devil sport, it rejoiceth the enemy of mankind when we lose so great advantage, that we will not apply those blessed truths and make them our own.
II. the obedience to the command. Thy face, Lord, etc. I will seek by Thy strength and grace. And this obedience was--
1. Present, at once.
2. Pliable, that of a ready, obedient heart.
3. Perfect and sincere.
4. Openly professed, as Jos_24:15.
5. Continued, and--
6. Suitable, answerable to the command.
Faith will see light at a little crevice. When it sees an encouragement once, a command, it will soon answer: and when it sees a promise, half a promise, it will welcome it. It is an obedient thing, the obedience of faith (Rom_16:26). It believes, and upon believing, it goes to God. As the servants of the king of Assyria, they catch the Word presently, Thy servant Benhadad (1Ki_20:32); so faith, it catcheth the Word. (R. Sibbea.)
The answering heart
I. the Lords invitation. An invitation--
1. Supremely beneficent.
2. Graciously merciful.
3. Infinitely condescending.
II. the believers reply,
1. A wise resolve.
2. A blessed heritage.
3. An eternal privilege In heaven they see His face.
III. THE given opportunity--When Thou saidst. This opportunity is--
1. Universal. To all who hear the Gospel.
2. Continuous. From life till death.
3. Varied. Bible, conscience, providence.
4. Unsolicited. God makes the first approach. (Homilist.)
Kind words should awaken kind echoes
Walking one day in the Queens Park, Edinburgh, I heard the music of a military band. I could not see the musicians, but the great rocks above me echoed the music, note for note, and one could have thought that the players themselves were hidden there. Now if granite rocks render sweet echoes to sweet music, how much more should our souls respond to the sweet calls of our Saviours voice and say, When Thou saidst unto me, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. (R. Brewin.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Psa 27:8 - Psa 27:9.
Psalms
‘SEEK YE’-’I WILL SEEK’
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Psa 27:8 - Psa 27:9.
We have here a report of a brief dialogue between God and a devout soul. The Psalmist tells us of God’s invitation and of his acceptance, and on both he builds the prayer that the face which he had been bidden to seek, and had sought, may not be hid from him. The correspondence between what God said to him and what he said to God is even more emphatically expressed in the original than in our version. In the Hebrew the sentence is dislocated, at the risk of being obscure, for the sake of bringing together the two voices. It runs thus, ‘My heart said to Thee,’ and then, instead of going on with his answer, the Psalmist interjects God’s invitation ‘Seek ye My face,’ and then, side by side with that, he lays his response, ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek.’ The completeness and swiftness of his answer could not be more vividly expressed. To hear was to obey: as soon as God’s merciful call sounded, the Psalmist’s heart responded, like a harp-string thrilled into music by the vibration of another tuned to the same note. Without hesitation, and in entire correspondence with the call, was his response. So swiftly, completely, resolutely should we respond to God’s voice, and our ready ‘I will’ should answer His commandment, as the man at the wheel repeats the captain’s orders whilst he carries them out. Upon such acceptance of such an invitation we, too, may build the prayer, ‘Hide not Thy face far from me.’
Now, there are three things here that I desire to look at-God’s merciful call to us all; the response of the devout soul to that call; and the prayer which is built upon both.
I. We have God’s merciful call to us all.
‘Thou saidst, Seek ye My face.’ Now, that expression, ‘the face of God,’ though highly metaphorical, is perfectly clear and defined in its meaning. It corresponds substantially to what the Apostle Paul calls, in speaking of the knowledge of God beyond the limits of revelation, ‘that which may be known of God’; or, in more modern language, the side of the divine nature which is turned to man; or, in plainer words still, God, in so far as He is revealed. It means substantially the same thing as the other Scriptural expression, ‘the name of the Lord.’ Both phrases draw a broad distinction between what God is, in the infinite fulness of His incomprehensible being, and what He is as revealed to man; and both imply that what is revealed is knowledge, real and valid, though it may be imperfect.
This, then, being the meaning of the phrase, what is the meaning of the invitation: ‘Seek ye My face’? Have we to search for that, as if it were something hidden, far off, lost, and only to be recovered by our effort? No: a thousand times no! For the seeking, to which God mercifully invites us, is but the turning of the direction of our desires to Him, the recognition of the fact that His face is more than all else to men, the recognition that whilst there are many that say, ‘Who will show us any good?’ and put the question impatiently, despairingly, vainly, they that turn the seeking into a prayer, and ask, ‘Lord! lift Thou the light of Thy countenance upon us,’ will never ask in vain. To seek is to desire, to turn the direction of thought and will and affection to Him and to take heed that the ordering of our daily lives is such as that no mist rising from them shall come between us and that brightness of light, or hide from us the vision splendid. They who seek God by desire, by the direction of thought and will and love, and by the regulation of their daily lives in accordance with that desire, are they who obey this commandment.
Next we come to that great thought that God is ever sounding out to all mankind this invitation to seek His face. By the revelation of Himself He bids us all sun ourselves in the brightness of His countenance. One of the New Testament writers, in a passage which is mistranslated in our Authorised Version, says that God ‘calls us by His own glory and virtue.’ That is to say, the very manifestation of the divine Being is such that there lies in it a summons to behold Him, and an attraction to Himself. So fair is He, that He but needs to withdraw the veil, and men’s hearts rejoice in that countenance, which is as the sun shining in his strength; ‘nor know we anything more fair than is the smile upon His face.’ If we see Him as He really is, we cannot choose but love. By all His works He calls us to seek Him, not only because the intellect demands that there shall be a personal Will behind all these phenomena, but because they in themselves proclaim His name, and the proclamation of His name is the summons to behold.
By the very make of our own spirits He calls us to Himself. Our restlessness, our yearnings, our movings about as aliens in the midst of things seen and visible, all these bid us turn to Him in whom alone our capacities can be satisfied, and the hunger of our souls appeased. You remember the old story of the Saracen woman who came to England seeking her lover, and passed through these foreign cities, with no word upon her tongue that could be understood of those that heard her except his name whom she sought. Ah! that is how men wander through the earth, strangers in the midst of it. They cannot translate the cry of their own hearts, but it means, ‘God-my soul thirsteth for Thee’; and the thirst bids us seek His face.
He summons us by all the providences and events of our changeful lives. Our sorrows by their poignancy, our joys by their incompleteness and their transiency, alike call us to Him in whom alone the sorrows can be soothed and the joys made full and remain. Our duties, by their heaviness, call us to turn ourselves to Him, in whom alone we can find the strength to fill the role that is laid upon us, and to discharge our daily tasks.
But, most of all, He summons us to Himself by Him who is the Angel of His Face, ‘the effulgence of His glory, and the express image of His person.’ In the face of Jesus Christ, ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God’ beams out upon us, as it never shone on this Psalmist of old. He saw but a portion of that countenance, through a thick veil which thinned as faith gazed, but was never wholly withdrawn. The voice that he heard calling him was less penetrating and less laden with love than the voice that calls us. He caught some tones of invitation sounding in providences and prophecies, in ceremonies and in law; we hear them more full and clear from the lips of a Brother. They sound to us from the cradle and the cross, and they are wafted down to us from the throne. God’s merciful invitation to us poor men never has taken, nor will, nor can, take a sweeter and more attractive form than in Christ’s version of it: ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ Friend! that summons comes to us; may we deal with it as the Psalmist did!
II. That brings me to note, secondly, the devout soul’s response to the loving call from God.
I have already pointed out how beautifully and vividly the contrast between the two is expressed in our text: ‘Seek ye My face’-’Thy face will I seek.’ The Psalmist takes the general invitation and converts it into an individual one, to which he responds. God’s ‘ye’ is met by his ‘I.’ The Psalmist makes no hesitation or delay-’When Thou saidst . . . my heart said to Thee.’ The Psalmist gathers himself together in a concentrated resolve of a fixed determination-’Thy face will I seek.’ That is how we ought to respond.
Make the general invitation thy very own. God summons all, because He summons each. He does not cast His invitations out at random over the heads of a crowd, as some rich man might fling coins to a mob, but He addresses every one of us singly and separately, as if there were not another soul in the universe to hear His voice but our very own selves. It is for us not to lose ourselves in the crowd, since He has not lost us in it; but to appropriate, to individualise, to make our very own, the universality of His call to the world. It matters nothing to you what other men may do; it matters not to you how many others may be invited, and whether they may accept or may refuse. When that ‘Seek ye’ comes to my heart, life or death depends on my answering, ‘Whatsoever others may do, as for me I will seek Thy face.’ We preachers that have to stand and address a multitude sound out the invitation, and it loses in power, the more there are to listen to us. If I could get you one by one, the poorest words would have more weight with you than the strongest have when spoken to a crowd. Brother! God individualises us, and God speaks to Thee, ‘Wilt thou behold My face?’ Answer, ‘As for me, I will.’
Again, the Psalmist ‘made haste, and delayed not, but made haste’ to respond to the merciful summons. Ah! how many of us, in how many different ways, fall into the snare ‘by-and-by’! ‘not now’; and all these days, that slip away whilst we hesitate, gather themselves together to be our accusers hereafter. Friend! why should you limit the blessedness that may come into your life to the fag end of it when you have got tired and satiated, or tired and disappointed with the world and its good? ‘Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.’ It is poor courtesy to show to a merciful invitation from a bountiful host if I say; ‘After I have looked to the oxen I have bought, and tested them, and measured the field that I have acquired; after I have drunk the sweetness of wedded life with the wife that I have married, then I will come. But, for the present, I pray thee, have me excused.’ And that is what many are doing, more or less.
The Psalmist gathered himself together in a fixed resolve, and said, ‘I will.’ That is what we have to do. A languid seeker will not find; an earnest one will not fail to find. But if half-heartedly, now and then, when we are at leisure in the intervals of more important and pressing daily business, we spasmodically bethink ourselves, and for a little while seek for the light of God’s felt presence to shine upon us, we shall not get it. But if we lay a masterful hand, as we ought to do, on these divergent desires that draw us asunder, and bind ourselves, as it were, together, by the strong cord of a resolved purpose carried out throughout our lives, then we shall certainly not seek in vain.
Alas! how strange and how sad is the reception which this merciful invitation receives from so many of us! Some of you never hear it at all. Standing in the very focus where the sounds converge, you are deaf, as if a man behind the veil of the falling water of Niagara, on that rocky shelf there, should hear nothing. From every corner of the universe that voice comes; from all the providences and events of our lives that voice comes; from the life and death of Jesus Christ that voice comes; and not a sound reaches your ears. ‘Having ears, they hear not,’ and some of us might take the Psalmist’s answer, with one sad word added, as ours-’When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I not seek.’
Brethren! it is heaven on earth to say, ‘Thou dost call, and I answer. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.’ Yet you shut yourselves up to, and with, misery and vanity, if you so deal with God’s merciful summons as some of us are dealing with it, so that He has to say, ‘I called, and ye refused; I stretched out My hand, and no man regarded.’
III. Lastly, we have here a prayer built upon both the invitation and the acceptance.
‘Hide not Thy face far from me.’ That prayer implies that God will not contradict Himself. His promises are commandments. If He bids us seek He binds Himself to show. His veracity, His unchangeableness, are pledged to this, that no man who yields to His invitation will be balked of his desire. He does not hold out the gift in His hand, and then twitch it away when we put out encouraged and stimulated hands to grasp it. You have seen children flashing bright reflections from a mirror on to a wall, and delighting to direct them away to another spot, when a hand has been put out to touch them. That is not how God does. The light that He reveals is steady, and whosoever turns his face to it will be irradiated by its brightness.
The prayer builds itself on the assurance that, because God will not contradict Himself, therefore every heart seeking is sure to issue in a heart finding. There is only one region where that is true, brethren! there is only one tract of human experience in which the promise is always and absolutely fulfilled:-’Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find.’ We hunt after all other good, and at the best we get it in part or for a time, and when possessed, it is not as bright as when it shone in the delusive colours of hope and desire. If you follow other good, and are drawn after the elusive lights that dance before you, and only show how great is the darkness, you will not reach them, but will be mired in the bog. If you follow after God’s face, it will make a sunshine in the shadiest places of life here. You will be blessed because you walk all the day long in the light of His countenance, and when you pass hence it will irradiate the darkness of death, and thereafter, ‘His servants shall serve Him, and shall see His face,’ and, seeing, shall be made like Him, for ‘His name shall be in their foreheads.’
Brethren! we have to make our choice whether we shall see His face here on earth, and so meet it hereafter as that of a long-separated and long-desired friend; or whether we shall see it first when He is on His throne, and we at His bar, and so shall have to ‘call on the rocks and the hills to fall on us, and cover us from the face of Him who is our Judge.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain when thou
when thou
Or, My heart said unto thee, Let my face seek thy face.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.