This blessing is taken from Numbers, and it was a blessing over God’s people. But as I look closer at “The LORD make his face shine upon you”, I wonder what does this mean? The Strong’s Bible Dictionary tells me that shine here means to be or become light, to shine, to illuminate and to give light.

Daniel prayed a prayer with similar words when the people of Israel were taken captive by the King of Babylon. Daniel asked God to shine His face upon them as they were desolate in darkness.

Daniel 9:17

 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.

So, Daniel was asking God to help them, have mercy upon them, and bless them.

But the Bible also speaks about God hiding His face from His people. And I think exploring this helped me understand more about “Him shining his face upon us” much clearer.

God Hides His Face

Isaiah 59:1-2

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
    or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
 but your iniquities have made a separation
    between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
    so that he does not hear.

Isaiah tells us here that it is the sin of the people that has separated them from God. He says that their sins have hidden His face from them. And because His face is hidden from them, He does not hear them. It’s like the bridge between man and God is broken by sin, and His face is hidden from men. They are no longer lit by Him. When God’s face is hidden from man, there is no longer light but darkness. His covering light is no longer on them. It is such a great disaster to have His face hidden from us.

Deuteronomy 31:17

Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’

He hides His face from those with whom He is angry. And He is only angry because they go against Him and do the same things He has told them not to do. And He says here that when He hides His face, they will be devoured. He says that many evils and troubles will come upon them. They will recognise that evil will come upon them because God is no longer with them. So, when He hides His face, He is no longer with them. They no longer have His protection.

Deuteronomy 32:19-28

“The Lord saw it and spurned them,
    because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
    I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
    children in whom is no faithfulness.
Again because of man’s provocation, God hides His face from them. Hiding His face is cursing and judgement.

 Psalm 30:7

By your favour, O Lord,
    you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
    I was dismayed.

The Psalmist says that when God hides His face, he is dismayed. And dismayed here means to tremble inwardly, to be alarmed and hasten anxiously. The Psalmist understands and tells us that it is horrible for God to hide His face from us. 

 Psalm 104:29-30

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
    when you take away their breath, they die
    and return to their dust.
When you send forth your Spirit,^[c] they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.

His hidden face can lead to death, but God’s presence in His Spirit is life itself.

Isaiah 64:6-7

We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name,
    who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have made us melt in^[c] the hand of our iniquities.

Isaiah says that when His face is hidden from us, we will melt in the hands of iniquity. Oh, what a terrible visual.

So, we want His face to shine upon us, and from these examples, we see that the choice is ours. If we seek Him and live according to His ways and do not follow the path to sin, His face will shine upon us; He will make us light and bless us and give us life eternal. But we can also choose the path towards sin causing Him to hide His face from us, and we will be dreadfully afraid when we realised what we have done.

So let us be obedient so that His face shines upon us and let us be His representatives for others and bless them with this prayer that God may shine His face upon them too. Shine the light that He gives us so that others can be lit too.

All photos were taken by Kyle or Vani. These photos are from the many adventures we have been blessed to experience together. We are so grateful for every blessing from God. No filters were used nor were the photos edited except for an occasional crop. We hope you enjoy.