The Light of God’s Face
Psalm 80:1–19
“Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.” (80:19)
“The light of God’s face” is one of the most beautiful and profound expressions of grace found throughout the Bible. In Hebrew, the word for “face” (*panim*) signifies a person’s very being, character, and relationships.
When people are disappointed or angry with someone, they turn their faces away or look aside. In the Bible, the expression “God hid His face” (Deuteronomy 31:18) signifies a broken relationship and the onset of judgment due to human sin.
Conversely, the shining of God’s face is a proclamation of grace—an assurance that, despite all our faults and unbelief, He accepts us again and restores our relationship with Him. It means He looks upon us with a heart full of love and mercy.
After encountering God face-to-face at the Jabbok River, Jacob confessed, “I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared” (Genesis 32:30). He named that place “Peniel” (*Pani-El*: the face of God).
Later, upon meeting his brother Esau, he confessed, “To see your face is like seeing the face of God” (Genesis 33:10). This illustrates that while the face of God can inspire awe and fear, it simultaneously symbolizes His grace and mercy.
In the Old Testament era, the people believed that seeing God’s face directly meant death, yet they sought that light even amidst their fear. However, for us living in the New Testament era, the perfect light of grace has been given through Jesus Christ. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). We are now able to face the light of God’s countenance without fear.
The most authoritative proclamation of the light of God’s face is found in the “Priestly Blessing”: “The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:25–26).
Amidst a desperate national crisis, Asaph cried out three times: “Make your face shine on us, that we may be saved” (Psalm 80:3, 7, 19). When the light of God’s face shines upon us, a stagnant soul is revitalized and brought back to life.
“Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.” This is a confession that the only way to escape suffering is to turn back to God and look to the Lord’s merciful gaze.
The secret to escaping the mire of spiritual stagnation and unbelief lies not in our own efforts or a change in circumstances. True restoration occurs only when the Lord shines the warm light of His grace upon our souls.
There is a well-known anecdote about Pastor Kim Ik-du. In the early 1900s, everyone near Pyongyang knew the name Kim Ik-du. In his youth, he was a violent, vicious gangster and a murderer who terrorized the marketplace.
People would scatter salt or flee at the mere sight of him, considering him a harbinger of bad luck; his heart was constantly filled with the darkness of rage and hatred toward the world. His life was devoid of hope, like a “pitch-black night.”
Then one day, he received a gospel tract from a Western missionary and was about to use it to blow his nose. The missionary stopped him, saying, “If you blow your nose with that tract, your nose will rot.” Startled by these words, Kim Ik-du looked at the tract and read the message written on it.
Baffled by this gospel message—something he had never encountered before—he looked up into the missionary’s kind eyes. That gaze—radiating a warmth he had never experienced before—pierced deep into the soul of a man who had spent his life enduring the scorn and curses of the world.
He immediately went into a private room and began to weep bitterly in repentance. As he agonized over the terrible sins he had committed, the Holy Spirit allowed him to see, with his spiritual eyes, the face of Jesus Christ bleeding on the cross.
The radiance of forgiveness and love shining from Jesus’ face flooded Kim Ik-du’s frozen, desolate heart. The next morning, he went to the marketplace and distributed death notices.
“The thug Kim Ik-du died yesterday.” Though people did not believe it, he had truly become a completely different person. As God shone the light of His countenance upon his soul, the chains of anger and darkness that had bound his life were instantly shattered.
He went on to become a great revivalist and pastor in the history of the Korean church, leading countless souls to the Lord and demonstrating the reality of the living God. Kim Ik-du’s transformation did not come about because he tried to become a good person on his own. It is because they turned away from the world’s condemning gaze to face the “light of God’s face”—a gaze that accepts us unconditionally and looks upon us with warmth. When a room is filled with darkness, trying to sweep it away with your hands will never make it recede.
Only when you flip the switch and let the “light” in does the darkness vanish without a trace. Likewise, when the light of the Lord’s face shines upon the unbelief, despair, and wretched circumstances of our lives, we are instantly led to a place of restoration.
The most urgent prayer we need to offer today is for “the light of the Lord’s face.” Let us begin this morning by vigorously singing the well-known hymn, “Sunshine in My Soul” (Hymn 428):
Sunshine in my soul; the Lord’s glory shines so bright,
This light shines far more brilliantly than any light in this world.
May the radiant glory of the Lord
Shine upon me;
When I behold that bright face,
My soul is filled with joy.
