“As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15 ESV).
In this psalm of David, he asked the Lord to deliver him from violent men whose portion was found in the things of this world. After asking the Lord for deliverance from such men, David said, “As for me, I shall behold your face.” In contrast to the wicked, David found his greatest delight in the Lord, not in the temporal things of this world.
David’s desire for God reminds me of what Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied… Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:6,8). Surely, David desired such blessing from God. He not only desired to see the Lord, he firmly believed that one day he would see Him.
When? David declared, “When I awake.” Did he mean in the morning after a night of sleep. No, surely this was not a reference to natural sleep, but to death, as the Scripture often names it. For David believed in the resurrection. He had set his desire on a coming day when he would be fully satisfied in the presence of God.
David’s desire to see the Lord reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses, 1 John 3:2, which says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
David’s desire and our desire as children of God will one day be satisfied. For when Christ appears, we shall appear with Him in righteousness and be fully satisfied in Him.
PRAYER: Dear Father, as for us, we shall behold Your face in the likeness of your Son. Until that day, may we be fully satisfied in Him. Teach us to be content even now in Your grace, knowing that all things are ours in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.