November 2 Daily Devotional

The health of my countenance

[Psalm 42:11] is an extraordinarily accurate picture of spiritual depression ... you can almost see the man ... the man who is dejected and disquieted and miserable, who is unhappy and depressed always shows it in his face. He looks troubled and he looks worried. You take one glance at him and you see his condition. Yes, says the Psalmist in effect, but when I really look at God, as I get better, my face gets better also— ‘He is the health of my countenance’. I lose that drawn, haggard, vexed, troubled, perplexed, introspective appearance and I begin to look composed and calm, balanced and bright. This is not the putting on of a mask, but something that is inevitable. If we are depressed or unhappy, whether we like it or not, we will show it in our face. On the other hand, if we are in the right relationship to God, and in a true spiritual condition that again quite inevitably must express itself in our countenance, though I am not suggesting that we should perpetually have* that inane grin upon our faces that some people think is essential to the manifestation of true Christian joy. You need not put anything on, it will be there; it cannot help expressing itself—’He is the health of my countenance’.

Spiritual Depression, pp. 13–14

*’The truly happy do not laugh’ (Maeterlinck) [Ed.].