Psalm 27:9
Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Saviour.
What is the worst thing that could possibly happen to you in
life?
David’s first priority is seeing God's face; that is,
knowing him and being in close relationship with him. So it makes sense that the worst thing David could experience would be God turning his face away, and rejecting him.
At the cross, Jesus experienced something we as Christians
never need to experience - his Father turned his face away from him. Jesus was rejected and forsaken when he took on our sin. Because he experienced that in our place we need never worry that God will reject us, if we are trusting in Jesus’ death. That is the most amazingly reassuring truth to cling to, perhaps
especially when life is hard and it sometimes feels as if God has turned his back on us for a while.
"What's the worst thing that could happen to you in
life?" Maybe your answer was something like 'having to live without God'. That would be the worst thing, if it could ever happen. Praise God that because of Jesus, it never will!
Or maybe you thought 'well, it isn't living without God
because that could never happen'. Thank God for the assurance he has given you, and pray that - familiar as this truth is - you would never take it for granted. Let's ask God to amaze us afresh at his gracious mercy shown to us in Jesus.
And if God was nowhere near your answer to that question,
because so many other possible calamities filled your mind, you might want to ask him to give you more of David's perspective. Pray that he would change your heart, so that you would truly be able to say that your relationship with God, in which he will never turn you away, is the most precious thing you have.
