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Psalm 63 is, for me, a spiritual check-up passage. As you read David’s expressions of thirst and longing for the relational presence of God, let the Holy Spirit sift your affections while asking yourself, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being a robust echoing of David’s feelings), where are my heart’s affections? And then let David’s example draw you up the scale.

I love words, but often they aren’t sufficient for the task. I would love to be able to express in words the deep, soul-satisfying sweetness when the Lord’s face shines in my direction. It’s a little like trying to express to a person who’s never had chocolate how chocolate tastes.

While meditating on the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), I have been amazed at what comfort is packed into a single line! “The Lord make His face shine upon you”—it is not the poetry of man, but the proclamation of heaven.

Two men went up to the temple to pray—but only one went home justified. The first was robed in religious garb, adorned with spiritual pride, and convinced of his own righteousness. He prayed—but not to God. He prayed to himself. Listen to his words: “God, I thank You that I am not like other men.”

Our journey to see with eternal perspective has come to the cross-roads called suffering. And we do not lose heart. What a strange and wondrous declaration from the lips of a man acquainted with prisons, shipwrecks, beatings, betrayals, and sleepless nights. Paul’s life was mired in suffering—and yet he calls it “light.” He bore permanent scars, and yet he calls it “momentary.” Is this exaggeration? Is this blindness to pain? No—it is perspective.