Psalms 119:58 - The Face of Favorites

Hidden Treasures of the 119th Psalm. Today's verse is so amazing and I'm so excited to share it with you.

As always, I'm like, oh my goodness, this is so rich. As we were in the Het section of the 119th Psalm, we did the first verse, which is 57, which, if you looked at the Isaiah 11 idea of the anointings of Christ, and each of these letters, of course, are a word, and each of these words are the word of God which are anointed. And so, it seems the psalmist would have followed this pattern as we looked at the way the Holy Spirit showed him.

I don't know, it seems to me that you can line it up every time. And so, we talked about the first verse, 57, of the Het section was the wisdom, so today's verse would be the understanding. And so, wow, I mean, this is just so rich. The way it reads in the King James Version is, I entreat thy favor with my whole heart, be merciful unto me according to thy word. So that is the way it, again, reads in the King James Version, but if you were to look at it in Hebrew, it's absolutely spectacular, again, with this idea of life. And what I really sense in it more than what it says here translated is, I would say that, man, I am seeking your face with my whole heart. In other words, there's one thing King David wanted to do, and that was to see God's face, and that was his whole heart right here. And if you think about that, if in your marriage to Christ, and the idea of Het, and the idea of life, or any marriage, you know, the whole idea is you're seeking their face. And that's the same thing as favor, right?

With my whole heart, I mean, he's all in, and he's seeking that with everything that he has. And what a way to start a marriage, I mean, what an understanding of the whole idea of Het, which, again, it means life, but this is where we get our life, right, from Jesus' face. And then he says, be merciful, is what it says in the King James Version, but actually that word is graceful. In other words, be graceful unto me according to thy word. Well, grace is, again, the idea of favor, so it's kind of interesting here, you know, that here I want to be your favorite, okay, Jesus? I mean, clearly, when I think about this verse, it's like, man, I want to see your face with my whole heart, and I want to be your favorite.

And if you don't sense marriage in that, I don't know what to tell you. But it has long been one of my most wonderful, wonderful, you know, precepts, really, that I have down in my heart is the idea of grace, and that when you meet certain people, you see, by the way that they look at you, the way their face grasps you in their eyes, you see grace, you see that you're their favorite. And, you know, maybe you can recall somebody like that that's really important to you, but when it's your father, okay, it's especially meaningful. And I was my father's favorite in so many ways, and I know my siblings might even tell you that that was the case, but they all had their special place in his heart as well. But my father, it just seemed like I could do no wrong my whole life, that he was always, always on my side. He was always in my corner, and my relationship with him was so, so precious. You know, I can remember even, you know, on times that I would fail miserably when I went out of business.

I lost the dealership, you know, all these things, and understand he was a genius in the car business. So for me to fail along these lines, you know, there's no really putting words to what his love for me in those times when I felt like an absolute failure meant. And I'm talking about my earthly father, of course, always felt that from my Heavenly Father as well.

But again, as we are fathers, right, and we get an opportunity to show our kids that they are our favorites, you know, how can we do that? Well, I can remember this is a story from my father. He had such wisdom. One time, my little brother and I were fighting, which was not unusual, and he pulled his little Boy Scout knife on me. And we, you know, we weren't old, maybe fourth or fifth grade, whatever it was. And so I went running, and I told Dad, Dad, Dad, Mark pulled a knife on me. And my father, of course, Mark, oh, no, there's no way I didn't pull a knife on Robbie, blah, blah, blah, you know, and on the story went. And so my father had us up in his bedroom, and I'll never forget this wisdom that he had as he listened to both of us who he loved dearly. And he said, okay, son, here's how we're going to settle this. He said, Mark, I want you to bend over, I'm going to give Robbie the belt, and I want him to spank you according to what he knows is true. And, of course, after I certainly did spank Mark for pulling a knife on me, he then bent me over and said, okay, Mark, I want you to give it to Robbie for him lying against you and all that went on.

Of course, my brother couldn't do that with his whole heart, and that was quite obvious. And then I was excused, and I've never forgotten that incident. I've never forgotten it because the wisdom of it was so clear, but the love in it was so clear that he wanted to get at the truth, but he wanted to teach both of us a lesson, something that we never, ever have forgotten. And so, I mean, I praise God. I know everybody didn't get that kind of father, but I bet God put somebody in your life that was a man that you knew you were their favorite.

Maybe it was a grandfather, an uncle, you know, a teacher, a coach. I don't know who, but he always does it, and it's an idea there of him, you know, giving us life. And so how cool is it that King David gives us this clear picture of marriage here when he basically says, God, Jesus, I am seeking your face like Moses did with my whole heart. Lord, I want to be your favorite according to your word. And that's what it says. And so enjoy that today in the 119th Psalm.