You may not think about how much you are glowing as a believer. I didn’t in the early years of my walk with Jesus. Then I began to get comments from people who encountered me from time to time. Several of them would say something about me glowing. They’d use different words but they indicated my face was communicating a shine, a light, a radiance of peace and joy.
As I was reading the Bible today this verse jumped out at me.
Psalms 34:5 NKJV They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.
Are You Glowing for God?
Do you see it? A radiance that comes from looking to God. So let me ask you, how is your face doing today? Are you glowing for God? If not, then maybe you are looking at the wrong thing. Those who look to Him are radiant. Their faces shine. They are not ashamed.
Most people really want their face to look good. Many will spend a lot of time and money to accomplish that! Especially the ladies, but hey, some guys do it too. The first time I heard of a man getting a facial I chuckled, but the dude likes his face, so now criticism from me. Face lovers use makeup, plastic surgery, special cleansers, spa treatments, and lots of other things to get that perfect look. Well, the Bible has the ultimate beauty tip right here in Psalm 34. Let’s look at verse 5 in context and discover the secret!
Psalms 34:1-6 NKJV A Psalm of David When He Pretended Madness Before Abimelech, Who Drove Him Away, and He Departed. I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. (2) My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. (3) Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. (4) I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. (5) They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. (6) This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.
David wrote this after he did a really dumb thing. David was hiding from King Saul who wanted to kill him. Why? Because David was chosen by God to replace as him as King over Israel. So David was temporarily living in the camp of Achish, the king of Gath (his title was Abimelech), an enemy of Israel because he thought he would be safe there. One day David got the idea that maybe Achish was going to turn him over to King Saul in order to get some favor from him. So rather than trust God to get him through the situation, David pretended to be insane. (1 Samuel 21) He played it up really good. He was scratching on the doors of the gate like a dog and drooling all over himself. So Achish believed the ruse and had David removed from his house and let him leave.
God must have dealt with David about his lack of faith, because this whole psalm was written as a response to that situation. So what did David do after confronted with his sin? What can we learn about glowing for God here?
Bless the Lord at All Times
The first thing David mentions is to bless the Lord at all times. Not just in the good times, but all times. So often we are seeking the Lord to get Him to bless us, but we need to bless Him! How do you do that? Well, the word “bless”, from the original Hebrew language means to bless as an act of adoration. Do you let God know how much adore Him? Do you adore Him at all? If you start doing that, it will change your outlook on your circumstances.
Another thing David reveals is to let His praise be continually in your mouth. Not continual complaining, but continual praise. God loves your praise. He doesn’t need it because He has an ego deficiency, He loves it because He loves you and wants to hear you express your love for Him. That’s important in any close relationship. Don’t you like it when your loved ones praise you for the things you do? Well God likes it, too! If your mouth is continually praising and blessing the Lord all the time, there won’t be any way you can whine or complain. Your mouth can only do one thing at a time, so change what comes out of your mouth. Bless and praise!
David’s next beauty tip is to tell your soul to boast in the Lord. Your soul is your mind, will and emotions. Grab hold of it and brag about God! If you’re already praising and blessing, start bragging to Him. Here’s an example: “Oh wow God! The things you are doing in my life right now are awesome. Everything is going to work out great. You are going to bless me and change me and I am going to have the ultimate victory because you always do great things concerning my life. You do everything perfectly, even the things I don’t understand. You are incredible.”
When you also let that be your testimony to God’s people around you, those who are humble in the Lord, they will hear that and be glad with you! Unbelievers will think you’re nuts, but not those who walk with God. They will encourage you to keep on keeping on because they will know you are making the right response, the biblical response, to all your situations. Praise the Lord and boast about Him.
Magnify the Lord with Me
Next David tells us to encourage others to magnify the Lord with you. How do you do that? Well, you can’t actually make God bigger by what you say. He is bigger than everything already. But you can make Him look bigger to yourself and to others by what you say. First, just tell Him, “Lord you are bigger than my problem and I know you will take care of everything.” That’s a declaration of faith. Then, tell those who are part of your life, “God is bigger than this situation I’m going through and He is bigger than anything you will ever face, too. So let’s praise Him together for His goodness! He has everything under control!” When we focus on how big God is, the problem is oh, so very, very small.
David’s final beauty tip is seek the Lord! God has the only real answer for you. He has the solution. He is the King over all things. So seek Him. Go to Him, pour out your heart, share your feelings and your concerns. The promise in this verse is that He hears you when you seek Him, and He delivers you from all your fears. Not some of your fears, all of your fears.
The most important thing to remember about pouring out your heart to God is to end it by praising and blessing Him and then boasting in Him. Let the first and last things that come out of your mouth each day be declarations of faith and confidence in His power to fix everything. Then you can move forward with your life, confident that He heard you. That will make you will create and environment of faith that will cause God to deliver you from all your fears. Faith will chase away the fear and your thoughts and behavior will be healthy because your soul will be healthy.
If you follow these steps you will look to God and be radiant. Your face won’t show a hint of shame. You will be shining with the light of God’s Spirit. You will be glowing. Your glow will be noticed by all those around you and your testimony will be like David’s (verse 6), “I cried out to the Lord, He heard me, and saved me out of all my troubles.” How many of your troubles, all of them.
So engage with this process. Get glowing and watch all your fears and troubles evaporate in the presence of God’s love, power and grace.
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