I Will See You Face To Face

February 24, 2017

I Will See You Face To Face

“Because I am righteous, I will see you.

When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.”

Psalm 17:15

Many commentators believe Psalm 17 is about Jesus, because only Jesus can pray with such confidence, “You have scrutinized me and found nothing wrong . . . My steps have stayed on your path; I have not wavered from following you . . .  Because I am righteous, I will see you” (Psalm 17:3,5,15). I don’t disagree.

However, I also read Psalm 17 as an expression of David’s child-like faith:   strong faith, Biblical faith, but also child-like faith. I suspect David wrote this psalm while still in his youth. Later in his life David is much more acutely aware of his own sin, as in Psalm 32 when he seeks forgiveness for his sin with Bathsheba.

David’s faith is the defining characteristic of the Book of Psalms. David has an absolute trust in God. David is not in denial; he knows he has adversaries and that his adversaries are enemies of God. However, David fully expects that God will vindicate him. He trusts God to be both judge and the executor of divine judgment. This is the same trust the Apostle Paul proclaimed when he wrote, “for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return” (2 Timothy 1:12).

There are two thoughts I take with me from Psalm 17. First, my battle is the Lord’s. David had many adversaries, some real and some imagined. But he knew that ultimately the Lord would deliver him. When I think about David’s confidence in turning to the Lord to fight for him, I recall a line from another Psalm that I desperately need to cling to: “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10a).   

Secondly, because of the immeasurable love of Christ, I am now and forever more the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, I can rejoice with the psalmist in saying:

“Because I am righteous, I will see you.

    When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.”

Psalm 17:15

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.