Psalm 17:15 "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."
Again, I say this 17th Psalm is very interesting. David began by writing of
"his goodness". Then he came to the place seeking the strength of the
Lord to intervene on his behalf. Then he began to speak of the wickedness of
the world. You can sense his becoming tired even as he was thinking about all
the things in the world that were being done by wicked people. The
wickedness, the greed, those who sought to lord over others, those who sought
to press the people down, and those who sought to destroy anyone in their paths
had brought great sorrow and had simply made David tired.
Can you identify with David in any way? Do you ever get tired of all the
fighting, the arguing, the wars and rumors of wars that are being shown day
after day? Do you get tired of people who try to make merchandise of
others? Those who try to lord over everyone else? If so, you can identify with
the way David was feeling as he wrote this Psalm. When will it all end? Well,
not to be the bearer of bad news, but it has always been and always will be
this way as long as the earth remains. Satan tempted Eve and Adam to want to be
lords of their own lives. Cain wanted to be seen as good as, or better than,
Able. We see it in our everyday news and the Word of God tells us things will
wax (grow) worse and worse.
Now that I have that out of the way, let me share the good news. Let me jump
way ahead in our study of the Psalms to the 73rd Psalm. The writer had
the same problem as we have talked about. He was saddened and probably disgusted
with the way wickedness had been so prevalent. He said he had almost fallen by
the wayside as he pondered these things. But then... "When I thought
to know this, it was too painful for me; (17) Until I went into the
sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. (18) Surely thou
didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into
destruction." (Psalm 73:16-18) God will have the ultimate say
concerning those who try to destroy others.
So, where are we to set our sights? "As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy
likeness." There is a better day coming! God has the ultimate
end in store for His people. We will, make no mistake about it, we will
see Jesus face to face! We will be made in the likeness of our blessed Lord. He
has a glorified body prepared for each of His redeemed children. We shall spend
all eternity with our blessed Lord. That is heaven! But wait! With
the leadership and help of the Holy Spirit, we can show the likeness of our
blessed Lord in our daily walk with Him. We can reflect His honor by the way we
talk with others, the way we act toward others. We do not have to act like the
world in order to get even with them. God will take care of that. We are called
to be children of God - His ambassadors, His representatives as we live from
day to day. That is our satisfaction here on earth and will be our complete
satisfaction when we reach the eternal heaven.