Have you ever seen someone that doesn’t have a healthy countenance and yet they are not physically sick? Both Psalm 42 and 43 speak of the “health” of our countenance. Three verses are almost identical – 42:5, 11, and 43:5. The Psalmist is asking a question to his soul, or, in a sense, “talking to himself”. Psalm 42:11 and 43:5 read: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”
The phrase “cast down” has the idea of being bowed down. We all have seen someone so discouraged, frustrated, or angry that their countenance is “bowed down” or “fallen”. The word “disquieted” means “to murmur, growl, roar, cry aloud, mourn, rage, sound, make noise, tumult, be clamorous, be disquieted, be loud, be moved, be troubled, be in an uproar”. It is interesting to note that when the Lord did not respect Cain and his offering, Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. (Gen. 4:5)
The word translated “health” in the KJV and is also translated “help”, “salvation”, “deliverance”, and “welfare” in other places, with the word “salvation” used the most. So, you could say that God “saves our countenance” (countenance is also translated “face”, “presence”, “sight”, “person”). As we “hope in God’, that is, look to Him as our salvation and our hope, we are changed. Here are other verses that come to mind in this change that God makes.
Psalm 34:5 “They looked to Him and were radiant (lightened), and their faces were not ashamed.”
Isaiah 45:22 “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
Hebrews 12:2 “… looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”
Thanksgiving is a time of looking to God and of recognizing all He has done for us, the greatest of which is granting us salvation from our sin through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on our behalf. And a time of getting a “healthy countenance”!
I love how Johnson Oatman, Jr. puts it in the hymn “Count Your Many Blessings”:
1. When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
2. Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.
3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
4. So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.