KJV Psalm 21:6 “Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with Thy countenance”
Darby Psalm 21:6 “Thou hast filled Him with joy by Thy countenance”
ESV Psalm 21:6 “You make Him glad with the joy of your presence”
NASB Psalm 21:6 “You make him joyful with gladness in Your presence.”
Psalm 21 is one of David’s Psalms sung, very likely, as he sat upon the throne and thought of all God had done for him (vv 1-7). The Most High had given him his heart’s desire (v 2). Amidst the dangers of the wilderness and cave, he had asked for life and God answered his prayer (vv 4, 5). “Thou hast made him most blessed forever” (v 5) is how David summarized God’s grace and mercy to him.
I may need to apologize to David in Heaven, but I cannot help but think that this Psalm transcends David’s experiences and points to his Greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And while all of the blessings of these first seven verses can be linked with the Lord’s life, I want to key in on the verse that heads this devotion.
It can be appreciated in two contrasting manners: His cross and His resurrection. The very next Psalm begins with the words, “Why hast Thou forsaken Me, why art Thou so far from helping Me?” If we equate the presence of God with joy, then we must similarly link His absence with depths of suffering and grief.
Joy, gladness, delight were all the emotions of His being throughout a past eternity and during His sojourn here below – until Calvary. Then, and only then, was there a change in the enjoyment of that fellowship. His face was hidden (Ps 88:14), His presence withdrawn (Ps 22:19), and Christ was allowed to sink beneath a burden of judgment without any deliverance (Ps 69). The infinite challenge to the throne that marks our sin and the infinite holiness of God demanded an infinite sacrifice.
But there is another way of appreciating this maxim of joy being linked with His presence. Recall that Psalm 16 tell us that “in Thy presence is fullness of joy” (v 11). In the verse cited above, joy and gladness are associated with His presence. If we bring this principle forward to the resurrection and enthronement, we can appreciate something of the joy the Lord Jesus experienced then.
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Of course, He knew the unbroken fellowship of God as soon as the work of redemption was accomplished, but His ascension to the literal presence of God in Heaven was associated with “joy unspeakable” and the exceeding gladness to which our verse refers. The One who knew and experienced the nadir of sorrow, the Mariana Trench of grief, must, by divine fiat, know the heights of joy and gladness. That joy in the presence of God will extend into eternity and we will be privileged by grace to share in His joy.
Consider
Look over Psalm 21 and link some of the blessings of vv 1-7 with the Lord Jesus.