But as for me, in righteousness I will see Your face, and when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your likeness.
The psalm ends with a greater hope set against the portion of this world: the desire to see God’s face and to be satisfied from His presence. David’s greatest longing is not material abundance, but the Lord’s presence. “To see Your face” is an image of enjoying God’s favorable presence, and “to be satisfied with Your likeness” shows a fullness that no created good can give. The phrase “when I awake” may first express a renewed condition after trial, and in the light of the whole revelation of Scripture it also accords with the final hope of the resurrection. Yet here we should not claim more than the verse itself clearly says. The believer’s deepest satisfaction comes not from passing gifts, but from God Himself. The New Testament also teaches that those who belong to Christ will finally be made like Him when they see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). Thus, the portion of the people in the previous verse is in this life, but David’s portion and final satisfaction are in God’s presence. Therefore this verse lifts a person’s gaze from the passing goods of this life to eternal fellowship with God.