Joy In Your Presence
(Note: St. Augustine is famous for writing a book called “The Confessions,” which was written completely as a prayer to God. In the same spirit, I plan to write these posts as a prayer to God.)
“There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!” You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” (Psalm 4:6–7, ESV)
There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?”
Heavenly Father, we know that the world is looking for “the good.” They cry out for “goodness” to be poured out on them. They long for “goodness” to be done to them. Yet, as they cry out for “goodness,” REAL goodness surrounds them.
Father, you have surrounded every human being with your goodness. You cause the sun to shine on all of us. You cause the rain to come and water the grass, the trees, and the fields. You cause the seasons to come and go. You cause our hearts to beat and our lungs to breathe. You repeatedly pour out goodness and mercy upon our heads every day.
Yet, Father, we have the tenacity to look around and say, “Who will show us some good?” Father, I know that deep in my heart I have this struggle. I continue to take your goodness for granted. I think I deserve these things. I become entitled. I am impatient and frustrated when you don’t give me the “good” that I want.
Father, please open my eyes to see the bounty of your goodness. Please open my eyes to live in thankfulness and joy for the goodness you pour out on me each day. Help me rest in the goodness you show me every second—through your grace and mercy. Help me not to question “Who will show me some good?” but to rest in the truth: “You have shown me good and will continue to be good to me all the days of my life.”
“Lift up the light of your face upon us, O LORD!”
Father, it’s true what Augustine said, that “our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.” We are restlessly longing for things—for what we think is “good.” Yet, thankfully, when we don’t get what we want, we often turn to you. We know you are there, even when it doesn’t feel like it. We know you are listening, even when we think you’re ignoring us.
Father, help this cry not be about me getting what I want from the world. Let this cry be what I truly want in all the world—to be in your presence. Father, help me not look to you so I can get things from the world, but help me look to you so I can get YOU. Father, I want your face to shine on me because I want to be in the joy of your presence. I want YOU over everything the world calls “good.” YOU are truly good. So, I ask you to show yourself to me.
You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.
Father, what an amazing promise you give me in this passage. The world around me can be full of prosperity—their grain bins full and their wine glasses overflowing—yet they have no joy. They are never satisfied with what they have. They are always longing for something more—always restless, always looking for “the good.” On the outside they may look like they have joy, but it’s not a true, deep, lasting joy. It’s superficial and will fade away.
Father, help me understand that I can have more joy in your presence. Help me see that I can have everything taken away from me—wine, grain, money, job, relationships—but can still have joy that is greater, deeper, and fuller than the rest of the world. Help me understand that this isn’t some “happy-clappy” joy but a DEEP joy that runs like a river of life through my trials.
Father, help me know that I find this joy in your presence. “If I have all the world, I am poor without [You]” (Treasury of David, p. 36), and if I have nothing in the world besides you, I am rich. Father, help me know and experience this joy in whatever situation I find myself—whether brought low or abounding, whether in abundance or need, whether in plenty or in hunger (Philippians 4:12). Help me know that one day in your presence is better than one thousand elsewhere. Help me rest in that joy every day.