There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
Psalm 4:6
We continue our look at the Psalms and see how they point to or testify of Jesus as he indicated in John 5 and Luke 24 when he said:
John 5:39 KJV Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Luke 24:44 KJV And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
These articles focus specifically on questions taken directly from the Psalm and illustrates how they speak of Jesus. The question for this article is taken from Psalm 4:
Psalm 4:6 KJV There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
The scriptures say that none of us does good:
Psalm 14:2-3 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. [3] They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
We all sin and come short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23)
The scripture also tells us that no one but God is good (Mark 10:18 & Luke 18:19). Therefore, the only one who can “shew good” is God, but to shew us good, he has to show us himself cause “God is good” “good is God”. And here we see how this concerns|testifies Jesus:
Phillip asked Jesus:
John 14:8-9 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. [9] Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
Shew us the Father = Shew us good = Shew us God.
Jesus replies, he that sees me see the Father.
But since God is a Spirit and therefore invisible, we can only see him the same way we see breeze i.e. the action it produces (moving a tree). So we see God moving through/in Jesus:
Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
John 10:32 KJV
Now, when the Spirit get in us, we (like Jesus) can “shew good” i.e. “shew God”
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 KJV
It’s only possible to “shew good” after we have “seen good” ..seen God.. seen Jesus, hence the following:
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
3 John 1:11 KJV
The man who does evil, has not “seen” God, whereas, the one who does good is mimicking the good they have seen in seeing Christ/ God.
Now consider, the psalmist says “LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us” right after asking who will shew us any good, because God shining the light of his face on us, is the answer to the question.
We see (get to know) God via the light (revelation) that comes from his face (Jesus). So Jesus do ‘show us good’ i.e. he shows us God (himself).
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
So back to the question:
There be many that say, Who will shew us any good?
Psalm 4:6
Jesus shows us good by showing us God and when we “see God”, then we can show him to others i.e. show good, show love, show kindness, show gentleness, show patience, show compassion.
