Seek the Face of God
A Reflection on Psalm 27:7-9a
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
“Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Do not hide your face from me.- Psalm 27:7-9a (NRSVUE)
The Psalmist here uses the image of a face as a metaphor for divine attention or presence; longing to see the face of God is longing to personally interact with him, to be the object of his attention, to experience his presence. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! And this longing comes from deep within us. We are drawn back to God by God himself; he moves through our deepest longings in such a way that our heart speaks his words: Come, my heart says, seek his face! And so our own heart is experienced by us as an other, a guide beckoning us to God.
The human face has always pointed beyond itself to God; made in the divine image, the human face has a sacred significance and dignity (Genesis 1:27). But in Jesus Christ, God takes on a human face: the eternal Word, “though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7 NRSVUE). The divine nature has taken on human nature in a marriage that unites us with God; humanity has become God’s bride. Going beyond all our wildest dreams, God has not only turned to look at us, but has taken on our form, a body like ours—and a human face. “The face of God” is no longer merely a metaphor, but a reality.
And the face of Jesus Christ can be seen with particular clarity in the faces of the marginalized. Jesus teaches that in serving them, he can be encountered: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me” (Matthew 25: 40 NRSVUE, see 25:31-46). Seeking the face of God, then, means seeking out and serving those in whom Christ is present—and Christ tells us that he is truly present in the “least of these.” As a priest once wisely advised me, “If you want to follow Jesus, spend time with the people who look like him: the poor.” God can be handed a glass of water, can be given food to eat, can be comforted—his face can be seen. As I have been working as a hospital chaplain for the past few weeks, I have been reminded of this advice in seeing the faces of the grieving, sick and dying—remembering that Christ lived a human life and died a human death.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, we may pray with the Psalmist, as well as, help me to hear the cries of others! Be gracious to me and answer me, we may pray, as well as help me to be gracious and answer those in need! Do not hide your face from me, we may pray, and do not let me hide your face—in the marginalized—from myself!
Your face, Lord, do we seek.
"Going beyond all our wildest dreams, God has not only turned to look at us, but has taken on our form, a body like ours—and a human face."
This visual is burning itself in my imagination. The God who could not be looked at without destroying the creation they love transforming to be ble to communicate, to see us eye-to-eye and transforming us so we can see him eye-to-eye...