- Love and Behold
Psalm 11.7
For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness;
His countenance doth behold the upright.
Once again, believers in Jesus Christ claim this promise for themselves because in Christ they are righteous and upright. The promise is for those who are right with God, which condition has been fulfilled by Christ. Jesus is “the Lord is our Righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:6). The Lord is intrinsically righteous, dwells only with righteousness, and loves righteousness. The righteous Lord loves us but cannot abide our sin; therefore He sent His Son to take away the sin, which He abhors and put in its place the righteousness, which He loves. He is essential righteousness, and He would naturally love His own resemblance,p; He would love the beauty of holiness which has been worked inside the faithful by the Holy Spirit. With a face full of love He beholds and speaks peace.
Therefore we can be assured of this promise of God’s love. No matter who we are or what we have done God loves us for He sees Christ our righteousness in us. Of this promise we can be certain.
The Lord’s countenance also beholds the upright, that is, His smiling face is looking upon us with tenderness and loving care. His countenance is “lifted up,” (Numbers 5:26) meaning his face is grinning at us, the corners of mouth and eyes tilting upward in a smile of tender love and charming grace: He is happy with us: “He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love.” God’s countenance (face) means His presence with us to bless: the Lord promises His presence will be with us to give protection, provision and whatever we need. Nothing in life can rival God’s smiling, loving, peaceful and powerful presence in the center of our hearts and lives. And the promise is that He is looking on us all the time with interest and devotion;e is looking on us all the time with interest and devotion; His feeling and intention toward will never waver, and He will always be there for us to turn to Him at all times and any time.
All this “beholding” is God’s doing and comes from His eternal being; we only receive and believe this promise by maintaining faith in Christ through the hearing of the Gospel.