The Shining Face of God

In these days of social media and smart phones, I’m sure a day doesn’t go by without you receiving a whatsapp message, a picture or article with an emoji face. Emojis are now everywhere. They are shortcuts for expressing what you think or feel. What one would ordinarily have said with a 100 words or more have now been reduced to an emoji of a smiling face with open mouth, beaming face with smiling eyes, stuck-out tongue face, winking face, surprised face, relieved face, kissing face, grinning face, crying face, face with tears of joy or smiling face with sunglasses. In as much as emojis are great for showing emotions and help save space, they do have their limitations. For one, they can be misinterpreted. To be sincere, I have received several messages that I didn’t even know what face a particular emoji represents or what exactly the sender of the message was trying to say!

Since we are talking of emojis, let’s imagine if we could see the expression on God’s face at any point in time. Imagine that as soon as we did something or said something God sends us an emoji. I’m sure that in one day alone, quite a number of us would receive so many emojis of God’s frowning face. From what the Bible says about what happens when God shines His face on a person (Psalm 80:7, Psalm 4:6, Psalm 67:1-2), I would give anything to receive God’s emoji of a smiley face or shining face. In fact, if there’s anything most of us if not all of us need right now, it is for God to shine His face on us, it’s for God to smile at us. We see from scripture that when God shines His face on a person, the person experiences peace, joy, divine affirmation, revival and prosperity. God shining His face on you is a very powerful blessing. No wonder God told Moses in Numbers 6:24-26 that when the priests are blessing the people of God, they must always say to them that “The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you” (Numbers 6:25). It takes one with a smiling face to make another person smile; it takes one with a shining face to make another person shine. God illuminates, radiates and reflects light. You can picture how strong and awesome the light of God is when Revelation 22: 5 says “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light…” God has a shining face; a face that glows with beauty, light, glory and power that’s why when God turns His face to an individual, that person has no choice but to shine. The more God turns His face to a person, the more the person shines. The more we are surrounded by the light of God’s countenance, the more we shine. This season God will turn His face to you and you will shine more and more.
When God shines His face on you, it means God will be gracious to you. When God is gracious to a person, God visits the person with His favour and loving kindness. The favour of God on any life will make the person shine more and more. When God’s favour is on you, you will definitely prosper and succeed. Failure is never associated with shining. A student who excels is seen as the shining star of the class. God’s favour can make your ministry, business, career, home and marriage a shining star. God’s favour can make the works of your hands to shine more and more.

2 Kings 13:22-23 tells us of how gracious God is to the Israelites. It is because of God’s gracious hand on Israel they have been preserved and God has not allowed anyone destroy Israel or banish the Israelites from His presence. If God is gracious to you, you will survive and overcome enemy attack and opposition. A defeated foe doesn’t shine. You don’t see anyone singing, shouting or cheering when his or her team loses a match. Victory brings smiles and rejoicing, victory brings honour and celebration, victory makes a person shine. It takes God shining His face on a person; it takes God being gracious to a person for the person to overcome enemy attack and opposition, for a person to be victorious, for a person to shine. I pray that on the battlefield of life you will be a victor not a victim. This season God will shine His face on you and no enemy will triumph over you. You will pass through waters of affliction and not be swept over by the water; you will walk through the fire of opposition and not be burned (Isaiah 43:2). You will be hard pressed on every side but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). No matter the challenge that comes your way, you will shine more and more as God is gracious to you and gives you victory.

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