As we enjoy God Himself, we also enjoy His countenance. Immediately after speaking of God as his portion, the psalmist says, “I entreated thy countenance with my whole heart” (v. 58, Heb.). It is also true in our spiritual experience that when we enjoy God, we desire to see His face. According to verse 58, the psalmist entreated the Lord’s countenance. This expression is rather unusual. Have you ever heard of someone praying by entreating the Lord’s countenance? If you consider your experience, you will realize that out of love for the Lord, there have been times when you longed to see His face. You wanted to be under the shining of His countenance. His countenance was all-important to you, and you wanted nothing else but to remain under His countenance and enjoy it. In verse 135 the psalmist prayed, “Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.” This indicates that the psalmist also enjoyed the shining of God’s face.
The utterances of the psalmist about the Lord’s countenance and the shining of His face are not doctrinal teachings; rather, they are words of experience. The psalmist was not just taught about these things; he experienced them. I also can testify that although I was never taught to seek the Lord’s countenance or the shining of His face, from my experience I have learned how marvelous and wonderful it is to enjoy the Lord Himself, His countenance, and the shining of His face. In seeking the Lord’s countenance, I experience the shining of His face.
In his book The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence emphasizes the presence of God. However, I do not recall that he said much, if anything, about the shining of the Lord’s face. The psalmist’s expression regarding the shining of the Lord’s face is very sweet, more dear and intimate than Brother Lawrence’s words about God’s presence. We should pray, “O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon me. Lord, I long to enjoy Your shining countenance.” To enjoy the shining of the Lord’s face is richer and more satisfying than simply experiencing His presence.
If you are faithful in contacting the Lord through the Word, you also will experience the shining of His countenance. Your desire will be to remain under this pleasant, delightful shining. Such an experience and enjoyment prove that our God is real, present, practical, and available. What we have is not merely doctrine, but the genuine enjoyment of Him.
Some say that they find it difficult to believe in God. But because I have tasted Him and enjoyed so much of Him, I find it even more difficult to deny that God exists. When I was a child, my mother loved me very much. But she could not give me the kind of enjoyment I have in the Lord. Only God Himself affords the supreme enjoyment. I do not have the words to utter how wonderful is the enjoyment of the shining of the Lord’s countenance.
To experience the shining of the Lord’s face is even easier than to experience the shining of light by turning on the switch. When I was a child, we did not have electricity in our house. We used old-fashioned oil lamps. It was my responsibility to keep the lamps clean and supplied with oil, a task I disliked very much. How happy I was when electricity was installed! No longer did I need to clean the lamps and fill them with oil. To get light in a room, all I had to do was turn on the switch. Enjoying God is even easier than this. Because we have been regenerated, God is now in our spirit. He is the light, and our spirit is the switch. If we want to experience Him and enjoy His shining, we simply need to turn on the switch by exercising our spirit.
Once God comes into us, He never leaves us. This fact, however, is not realized by all Christians. Many years ago, a certain booklet on the Spirit put out by a German mission was popular in China. In this booklet there was a picture of a dove, which represented the Spirit. According to the picture in this booklet, if we are good, the dove stays with us. But if we offend the Spirit, the dove flies away. At first, I appreciated this book and valued it highly. However, Watchman Nee wrote articles in protest to the teaching that the Holy Spirit leaves us. The dove of the Spirit never flies away. He always remains with us; we cannot chase Him away. At most, we can cause Him to be unhappy. In Paul’s words, we may grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). If the Spirit fled from us whenever we displeased Him, it would not be possible to grieve the Spirit. The fact that we can grieve Him proves that He never leaves us. God is with us even when we lose our temper. However, when we are tempted to be angry and lose our temper, we should call on the Lord. Then the One who is always with us will rescue us from our anger. How real, available, and practical He is! With the ancient psalmists, we who believe in Christ can testify from our experience, not from mere doctrine, that the Lord is real and that we enjoy Him.