You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
16 Make
thy face [paniym] to shine ['owr] upon thy
servant [`ebed]: save [yasha`] me for thy mercies [checed]'
sake. KJV-Interlinear
16 Make Thy
face to shine upon Thy servant; Save me in Thy lovingkindness. NASB
Our eyes often times close to life when difficulties strike. We see only the problems and we feel only the pains or anxieties. But as for God, His eyes are always open. He sees everything. He misses nothing.
And so, even when trouble is all that there seems to be, it is good to call on God in prayer, thus opening up our eyes to our helplessness, to our limitations, and look to God who has no constraints or limitations of any kind.
When we look around at life objectively, all we should be able to see are the limitations that exist in our life. When we review the previous verse, then we should know that God is involved in everything that is a part of our life. And putting the two verses together, you should realize that there is far more to life than meets the eye.
Life is not just the sum of your environment, or the sum of your intellect, or the sum of the silly ideas that have accumulated in your mind. Life is God, and specifically Jesus Christ.
We were born and then we die, neither of which we have any control over. And after death, then what? Are you prepared, or are you leaving it to chance?
When we look around at life, at ourselves, at other people, then we should realize that there is a higher power at work. Solutions always seem to be around the corner. The bad guys never get away with it. Something or someone, always seem to come along at the oddest time, and things or people who should never be a part of our life, seem to appear out of nowhere. Things that you could never plan yourself, just seem to come together.
You probably have events in your life that normally would seem impossible to have come together, but one of the best examples of Gods protection when the odds seem beyond impossible, is from history and the invasion on Omaha Beach back in June of 1944.
If you have ever seen that beach, then you know that the Germans had all of the advantages. They had years to prepare, and yet in under four hours time, the invasion breached their defenses. Their phenomenal firepower did not find their targets, while the Allied firepower did. The cost in loss of life could have been far greater, but it was not. Thus the saying, ‘If the bullet has your name on it, then that is all she wrote, but if no bullets have your name on them, then something else is going on.’
Many years ago, we studied Elisha, 2 Kg. 6:17, who asked to have his eyes opened so he could see, and he saw the angels fighting all around, with flaming swords and such. And that is the best example of Gods work, beyond our seeing.
We have protection, even if we do not see it, and especially if we do not know it. God is always there in your life.
So do not focus on the impossibility of your situation, whatever it may be, whether you are racing across a bullet filled beach or battling a desk job, or suffering from some weird disease that no one has named.
To you, your problem may seem hopeless, but to God, it is an opportunity to demonstrate His phenomenal power and control.
And that is what the phrase, ‘save me for thy mercies sake,’ means.
When all seems lost, then God can take charge and demonstrate His mercies.
But, and this is a very big but. No pun intended here.
But, you have to be functioning within the parameters of Gods plan, in order to benefit from His mercies.
God can look down the tunnel of time and see your future, but you cannot. So, do not bet on luck to get you through. Better to pursue your daily study and your spiritual life in order to maximize your blessings and protections, and make them certain.
As an unbeliever, all problems that you face are intended to bring you to Christ.
As a dysfunctional believer, all problems are designed to bring you to a functional spiritual life, namely a daily study and so forth.
As a positive and growing believer, then all problems are intended to reinforce your faith and accelerate your spiritual growth. Better to be in this position, than in the other two.
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