Day 34: Satisfied on Waking
Read: Psalm 17:13–15
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
— Psalm 17:15 (ESV)
Reflect
Psalm 17 is a hard prayer. For most of fourteen verses David pleads his case and speaks of enemies who surround him, track him, and crouch like lions. Then, in the last line, everything changes direction. The psalm ends on satisfaction.
The word translated "likeness" is temunah, "form." It is a rare and weighty word. Scripture uses it for the form of the LORD that Moses alone was allowed to see (Numbers 12:8). It is also the very thing Israel did not see at Sinai. They heard a voice, but they "saw no form" (Deuteronomy 4:12).
And here is David, expecting to be satisfied with it.
The phrase "when I awake" uses the same verb as Psalm 3:5: "I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me." David has known nights of danger. He has known what it is to wake up and find he is still kept.
But this waking is more than survival. He does not say, "When I awake, I shall be safe." He says, "I shall be satisfied." The psalm ends with waking up into God's face. Whatever the enemies took, they could not take that.
Across Scripture
Psalm 16 ends the same way: "in your presence there is fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11). Paul says that now we see "in a mirror dimly, but then face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12). And John looks ahead to the day Christ appears: "we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
Sit With It
When you wake, what do you reach for first to be satisfied? Your phone, your coffee, your worries? Consider what it would look like to reach for his face first.
Pray
Let me wake up to your likeness.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.