The Light of His Countenance: A Response To Psalm 67

Psalm 67 is a beautiful little psalm that continues the jubilant note of 65 and 66. The starting point for my response was the opening verse with its emphasis on mercy but also its beautiful phrase ‘The light of his countenance:

1. GOD be merciful unto us, and bless us: and shew us the light of his countenance, and be merciful unto us:

My response is a meditation on the mercy but also an exploration of the way in which the light of God’s presence shimmers through the veil of this world in certain special places and at certain special moments, kindling afresh our deep yearning and desire towards him.

As always you can hear me read the psalm by clicking on the play button or the title.

These poems will all be gathered together and published on January 30th under the title David’s Crown. I am just working on the proofs now and there is already an amazon page for the book if you wish to pre-order it Here

LXVII Deus misereatur
 
Till love himself comes as a revelation
We’ll live on mercy, and we’ll seek his face
Whose every look is light. In every nation
 
He is acknowledged, and all peoples trace
The shimmer of his presence, seek to follow
The hints and glimmers of his fleeting grace,
 
Feel after him and find him, learn to hallow
The places where the veil seems very thin:
The forest grove at sunrise or the hollow
 
In the hills on autumn evenings when
We seem to hear the horns of Elfland blowing
And strange unearthly longings draw us in.
 
Then we come close to God with out our knowing,
As he approaches us with wordless blessing,
And Eden’s rivers here on earth are flowing.

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