Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour. (Psalm 26:9 DR)
There is one more turning of the face which carries over from the previous passage and connects this line of thought. Formerly the Psalmist said that his own face would seek the face the God, that this face of God is the one thing he would desire. To behold the countenance of the Lord forever in the Beatific Vision is the one thing he longs for and the only thing he fears to lose.
And since this is the case, it naturally flows into this present passage, wherein the Psalmist pleads that in all the seeking of the Lord’s face, that the Lord would be pleased with him, that the Lord would turn not away His face from the Psalmist. In this passage are five requests that the Psalmist makes:
Turn not away
Decline not in wrath
Be Thou my helper
Forsake me not
Do not Thou despise me
Four of these requests are negative—what the Psalmist wishes the Lord not to do, and one is positive—what the Psalmist wishes the Lord to do. The four negative requests surround the positive request, which underscores the Psalmist’s realization that he requires mercy for his weakness and sin, which corresponds to the negative requests, and also requires grace to obtain the one thing that he desires, which corresponds to the positive request:
Turn not away Your face from me: that I may find what I seek. Turn not aside in anger from Your servant: lest, while seeking You, I fall in with somewhat else. For what is more grievous than this punishment to one who loves and seeks the truth of Your countenance? Be Thou my Helper. How shall I find it, if Thou help me not? Leave me not, neither despise me, O God my Saviour. Scorn not that a mortal dares to seek the Eternal; for Thou, God, dost heal the wound of my sin. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 26, Exposition 1, 9)
The Pslamist’s desire for the one thing he longs for does not exist in a vacuum; it is not entirely his decision if he obtains it or not. For, as St. Augustine explains, the only way he can find what he seeks is if God does not turn away His face. That is, God mercifully allows Himself to be found by those who seek Him, He turns aside His anger from those who love Him. The sandwiching of the negative requests with the positive request demonstrates that the initiative for the obtaining of this one thing does not lie within the Psalmist’s own will nor is it within his own power. Not only must God in mercy allow Himself to be found, but must also be the Helper to bring the Psalmist to the union of charity in the Beatific Vision. The Psalmist cannot find God unless God both allows Himself to be found, as well as assists in the finding.
The desire that the Psalmist has to see the face of God, to behold the delight of the Lord, did not originate with him but is itself God’s gracious gift. The interplay of mercy and grace as seen within these five requests thus characterizes the spiritual life, for in whatever progress is made it is due to God’s gracious gift, His unending benevolence and mercy which enables man to ascend to the heights of contemplation as he cooperates with that grace. But as the Psalmist pleads that God would be his Helper, any progress made is not of his own effort but is wholly enabled by the Lord. This creates within the Psalmist a deep humility, which is why even though he has the Lord as his Helper, he does not presume on his own virtue or merit, for within the honest reflection of his own weakness he knows that unless God enables his ascent, he will be cast off and despised.
The term for forsake here in the Vulgate is derelinquas, meaning forsake, abandon, discard. This translates the Greek ἀποσκορακίσῃς in the Septuagint, which comes from the word ἀποσκορακίζω. This word is an idiom which in its literal meaning is “to send away to the crows.” In its idiomatic sense it could be expressed in different ways, depending on the nature of the contempt envisioned. To send to the crows was the notion of perhaps leaving a dead body to be carrion for the birds, and this could similarly be rendered as “send to the dogs” or other similar notions:
He phrased this by analogy with angry people, who turn away from those approaching and endeavor to take a different direction. Be my help, do not dismiss me, do not abandon me, O God my Savior. For do not dismiss me the other translators said “do not cast me off”; the Septuagint, after all, has taken this term from secular culture, “Go to the dogs!” being a phrase from a certain fable adopted as an insult by the ancients. (Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms, 26, 9)
In modern English we would probably term this as “go to the devil!” or “go to hell!” The contempt that causes the subject to “cast off” or “forsake” is precisely what the Psalmist pleads to have turned away from him, that God would be merciful despite the Psalmist’s weakness:
Having asked God “not to decline in his wrath from his servant,” and that, from a consideration of the impossibility of his avoiding, by his own strength, the sins that provoke the anger of God, he cries out to him to continue helping him. The just man, then, asks God’s help to avoid sin; but should he unfortunately fall, he begs he may not be discarded entirely, but that he may, in mercy, be pardoned and cured; and he, therefore, adds, “O God, my Savior;” for a Savior’s duty is to heal and to cure, instead of rejecting and despising the unfortunate. (St. Robert Bellarmine, A Commentary on the Book of the Psalms, 26, 9)
The Lord’s mercy and graciousness unto him thus frame these requests and form the foundation of his confidence in seeking the face of the Lord. He does not rely on his own goodness or even the strength or sincerity of his desire to seek the face of God. For he will not find God unless God allows him to find the face of the Lord, but in his human weakness he is also wont to fall and stray from even the firmest and most heartfelt convictions.
Be thou my helper, forsake me not: do not despise me, O God my saviour. Where are those who claim that something can be achieved through human merits? Here a king and a prophet, full of grace and of heavenly blessing, asks that he be not abandoned by the Lord, for he knows that if the Lord forsakes him no power will be able to guide him. Nor is it enough for him to have made the prayer once; he must redouble and repeat it. Being despised is always the condition of the bondsman, and he cannot be relieved of care unless the kindly eye of the Judge gazes upon him. (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms, 26, 9)
Humility recognizes the continual need of God’s mercy and grace, and—while not presuming upon them—nevertheless longs for them, pleads for them and has confidence that God will provide them. After all, it is the Lord Who put the desire for the face of the Lord into the Psalmist’s soul, and it is He alone Who will bring that to completion.
The Lord is pleased when we ask for mercy and for grace, for that very request is cooperation with what God is pleased to provide:
Be Thou my helper: leave me not. For, lo, I am in the way, I have made the one petition of Thee, to dwell in Thy house all the days of my life, to contemplate Thy delight, and be protected as Thy temple: this is my one petition: but that I may attain unto it, I am in the way. Peradventure Thou wilt say unto me, “Strive, walk, I have given thee freewill; thou art master of thine own will, follow on the way, seek peace, and ensue it (Psalm 33:15); turn not aside from the way, abide not therein, look not back; persevere in walking, for he that shall persevere unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matt 10:22; 24:13).
Now that thou hast received freewill, thou dost rely as it were on the power of walking: rely not on thyself; if He should leave thee, thou wilt faint in the very way, thou wilt fall, wilt go astray, wilt come to a stand: say then to Him, Thou hast given me indeed a free will, but without Thee my efforts are nothing: Be Thou my helper: leave me not; neither despise me, O God of my salvation. For Thou dost help, Who formedst; Thou dost not desert, Who createdst. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 26, Exposition 2, 17)
I found this image and applied both Wave Warp and some Pixel Sorting to it to create the movement. I then added in the text and some camera movement and finally some color correction. Simple and sweet.
Enjoy.
Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour. (Psalm 26:9 DR)
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