Your Face Is Shining With The Brightness Of His Face

March 7, 2017

Your Face Is Shining With The Brightness Of His Face

The Lord is my shepherd;

I have all that I need.

Psalm 23:1

On the desk in my study, is an olive wood carving of The Good Shepherd that I purchased in Bethlehem. The concept of Jesus as the Good Shepherd resonates within my soul, and I am drawn to passages such as John 10 where Jesus talks of himself as the Shepherd and his followers as his sheep. God has used the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15 to often remind me he will never, ever, give up on me. You can find images of The Shepherd, and the scenes of Psalm 23, throughout the New Testament. As an example, in Mark’s description of the feeding the five thousand (Mark 6:30-43) “Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass.” For me, this invokes images of the “green pastures” in Psalm 23:2.

The most pervasive theme of the Bible is God’s longing for His people to know, and to experience, how much He loves us. I believe when God’s love truly penetrates our soul, when we experience His love, a miracle takes place. The Apostle Paul describes the miracle this way, “Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him” (2 Corinthians 3: 18 The Message).

How can we move toward such intimacy with God? Psalm 23 is a very good place to start because it is written in the first person, “The LORD is my shepherd . . .” I have found it very helpful in my devotional life to periodically spend a week with Psalm 23. Spend a day with each of the six verses in this psalm. Don’t just read the words; make them your own personal expression to God. Take time to ponder the words, and then elaborate what they mean to you and your life. Take the time to ponder how you have personally experienced God as your Shepherd? How have you rested with Him? How has He renewed your strength and led you along your way? How have you experienced Him in the dark times of your life? Has He provided for you in difficult times? Has your cup overflowed with blessings? Have you sensed His love pursuing you? Do you know, but do you know that you will live in the house of the Lord forever?

Go ahead and spend a week with your Shepherd. And don’t be surprised if along the way someone observes your face is shining with the brightness of His face.

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.