Where to Look
You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. Psalm 31:20 NASB
Secret place– Now that we’re searching for the hints of those promised elements of ṭôb, where is the first place to look? David’s song doesn’t leave us in the dark. The secret place (sēter) is in “Your presence.” The Hebrew root of this idea is pānâ. That alone tells us something important. “The frequency with which pānâ, and even more its derivatives, occurs in the ot is attested by KB* p. 76, who notes that the root appears twenty-one-hundred times in the ot.”[1] In other words, the Bible leaves us thousands of hints to follow. Isn’t that reassuring? We don’t have to have some secret code, some mystical cipher or some esoteric understanding to find this treasure. Hints of its location are scattered all over the text. In particular, this root stands behind the word pānîm, translated “face.” Since the root itself means “to turn towards” a direction, it’s important that “face” be understood in the same modality, that is, turning toward.
Hebrew is a language of personal interaction. Therefore, “the face identifies the person and reflects the attitude and sentiments of the person. As such, pānîmcan be a substitute for the self or the feelings of the self. In the Bible the ‘face’ (along with the other parts of the body) is described not merely as an exterior instrument in one’s physiology, but rather as being engaged in some form of behavioral pattern, and is thus characterized by some personal quality. It is only natural that the face was considered to be extraordinarily revealing vis-à-vis a man’s emotions, moods, and dispositions.”[2] What we learn is critical: The treasure we seek is to be found in the face of YHVH and we find His face when He is turned toward us. If we are in the place where God’s face shines upon us, then all the goodness of God will be ours. That’s the secret place. That’s what turning is all about.
This explains (partially, at least) why we don’t “have it all right now.” We would like to think that the goodness of God in allof its aspects should be ours, making life simple, comfortable and pleasing. But that’s not how friendships work, not even divine friendships. Real friends challenge us—in many ways—to grow, to become who we are, to stretch and strain, to discover, to feel, to expand. God is no different. He’s just better at it. All those nuances of ṭôb will be ours over the course of a lifetime friendship with the Creator. They will be enjoyed all the more because we had a stake in their production. We stayed face-to-face.
Topical Index: sēter, secret place,pānâ, turn, pānîm, face, Psalm 31:20
*KB L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti Libros, 2nd ed., Eng.-Ger., 1958
[1]Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 1782 פָּנָה. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (727). Chicago: Moody Press.
Well. Skip a lot comes to mind, but do keep it brief I’ll try to work backwards from the post. The encouragement you get from Moses is Yahweh spoke face-to-face with Moses like no other man. And also Moses replies by saying there is one who will come after me who is even greater. It’s not only Moses that God wants face to face time with it is all of us. Then the Curiosity of not wanting to put God in the eye when we despise Israel. Israel is the center of his Focus. Then in closing the comment I would turn towards would be. The secret place would be under the shadow of his wings. I was told at one point that when David went where the Ark was he would be on the opposite side of where the sun came in so he would be under the shadow of the wings of the cherubim which were on top of the Ark. I thought that that was pretty amazing, but wasn’t the ark always in a place that was unavailable except to the high priest.? When I It’s Too Faced with a person and look I can understand their deepest feelings. The eyes are the window to the soul all. The prophets were told along with David to always put God’s word before their eyes continual . We know that every part of God’s word reveals Yeshua.
“…we had a stake in their production”. There’s the rub! In the areas of our lives where sin still has dominion, the goodness of God cannot be manifested, for He is holy and cannot share His glory. We cry out for Him, but we are the brakes on the deal. He does not go faster than we do because, where we are still attached to our sin in our identity, if He came to that place His glory would destroy that part, and He “first does no harm”. This is a heavenly principle.
Moses was a meek man: he had left behind the throne of Egypt, which he had reportedly refused twice. I guess that exercise had given him the practice he needed to get off the throne of himself so that YHVH could safely interact with him.
Our stake in that production is to get out of the Way! May we pray for the humility of Moses, but also of Christ, Who abdicated the throne of heaven to be “God with us”; to bring the very face of God to the land of sinners. Now THAT is humiliation! And, our Example. May I climb down off the throne today, and stay down, is my prayer.
Hi Laurita
Right on.
I think it is to get of ‘our personal throne of the incomplete’ so the weightiness of our imperfections can be left behind in the physical to then freely give God the ‘rights to us spiritually’ moment by moment in our humble submissions which then become the Spirit’s grab handle that God prefers to use to lift us up without tearing us apart at the meeting place of our spiritual imperfection with His Majesty.
Blessings to All.
FJ