Do you feel vulnerable in your fear, helpless and unprotected in life’s battles? Has it been a long time since you have appreciated something beautiful that can send your soul soaring? Draw near to God in today’s lesson and share in an encouraging and powerful sight that not only delighted King David but also the hearts of millions of people through the ages and around the world.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD. 7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” Psalm 27:1-14
Friend, Psalm 27 is an anthem of faith in God, the author of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), who is endlessly strong, confident, kind, and loving. We can read the Psalm as the words of Jesus and also as a song of praise to Him as the Son of Man (Mark 2:10) and the Son of God (Romans 1:4). Jesus is our Divine Servant (Isaiah 52:13-14), who has never failed. Jesus never faltered in His ministry on earth and in His mission (Isaiah 42:1-4) to bring us, His beloved, to the safe refuge of His Father God. Let’s join our voices with the psalmist and sing this song together today as we strive to enter and remain in the rest that Jesus purchased at the cross for us (Hebrews 4:11).
Psalm 27 begins with an extraordinary picture of who Jesus is: He is our light, our fortress of protection, and our salvation, whose power overcomes our human reasoning to be fearful:
“The LORD is my light and the one who saves me. So why should I fear anyone? The LORD protects my life. So why should I be afraid?...If an army surrounds me, I will not be afraid. If war breaks out, I will trust in the LORD” Psalm 27:1,3 NCV
David’s words of confidence in the Lord sound wonderful, but we may ask ourselves: "How can I not dwell on my fear when all I see are terrifying obstacles to my wellbeing?" Fear may seem like an "adversary" (Psalm 27:2). "Evil doers" of anxiety may assail us (Psalm 27:2), with an "army" of worries that encamps around us in power and threatening influence (Psalm 27:3). It might appear to us that we have been abandoned by God and left alone on the battlefield surrounded by our enemy of fear.
It is part of our shared human condition to experience fear and unbelief. However, when unbelief controls our hearts, it produces in us the harmful fruit of habitual and disabling fear, which draws us away from God. In Hebrews 3:12, we read: "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God."
In Psalm 27:1-3, we can see David encouraging his heart to believe in God. David was not in denial about his circumstances, but focusing his heart on the Lord so that his fear would be relieved. We want to do the same, but in times of stress, it can be hard to make a proper assessment. Some helpful questions that we can ask ourselves to examine our hearts (Lamentations 3:40) amid fearful circumstances are: Is my fear leading me towards or away from God? Am I walking closer to the cross of Christ in my anxiety so that I hear Jesus calling: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12), or am I heading down the hill of Calvary, nursing my unbelieving fear and pursuing unholiness?
Let’s continue reading this Psalm of David and keep Jesus in the centre of our vision within this passage:
“When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.” Psalm 27:2
While we know that the shepherd boy who later became King David was a conqueror in battle, only Jesus displayed such power in His spoken words. Jesus spoke one sentence to those who came to capture Him in the garden of Gethsemane, and they all stumbled and fell backward - fallen but unharmed.
“Whom are you seeking?”5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. 6 Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.” …“So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” John 18:4-6,11.
Pastor Charles Spurgeon put it this way: “God’s breath blew them off their legs.” We, too, have the powerful breath of God’s Word like a lion to defend ourselves and intercede for others in prayer: “Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!” (Psalm 27:7)
Jesus, the brightness of God's glory, "upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3). At Gethsemane, Jesus surrendered to His captors with the meekness of a Lamb, and then He willingly offered His body on the altar of the cross as a fragrant sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). No one took His life; He laid it down for us (John 10:18).
Jesus was surrounded by the military and religious leaders of His day, breathing out violence (Psalm 27:12) and crying out: "Crucify Him!" while He was mocked and beaten. These "evil-doers" assailed Him on every side and falsely accused Him (Psalm 27:2,12). The only central position Jesus was given was on the middle cross between two crucified criminals. His adornments were a crown of thorns and a wooden sign of ridicule above His head. God turned away and abandoned His Son as Jesus was temporarily cast out and forsaken (Psalm 27:9) for us. Through the orphaning and abandonment of Jesus on the cross, the Lord took us in and made us His very own (Psalm 27:10 TPT).
As Jesus watched and waited in suffering for the time of deliverance, His blood poured from His body to provide purification for our sins (Hebrews 1:3). His death on the cross purchased forgiveness and cleansing for every angry, proud, hating, bitter, impure, and rebellious heart who would turn to see and believe in Him. In Christ, our new spiritually reborn hearts are now blessed with the loveliness of Jesus, being filled up to His perfect divine measure of guiltlessness by the righteousness found only in Him.
"My mouth shall show forth Your righteousness and Your salvation all the day…I will go in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of Your righteousness, even of Yours alone" (Psalm 71:15,16).
In Psalm 27:4, we hear, through David, the voice of Jesus communing in prayer and seeking just one precious thing above all else: the beauty of His Father’s face - as He would often do in the times of His ministry (Matthew 14:23, 26:39; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12). We also hear the cry of our own heart:
“Here’s the one thing I crave for from God, the one thing I seek above all else: I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house, finding the sweet loveliness of his face, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to live my life so close to him that he takes pleasure in my every prayer.” Psalm 27:4 TPT
Would you run to Jesus and lean your head on His breast to hear His wooing words: “Seek my face, child of Mine.” Like an echo bouncing back in reply, can you say as promptly as the psalmist: “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” (Psalm 27:8), “delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his temple” (Psalm 27:4 NLT).
Imagine a toddler in distress in their crib, crying out in fear at being separated from his parents ("For my father and my mother have forsaken me" Psalm 27:8), of being alone, of the darkness, or unexplained noises that frighten. But when he senses his parent's presence, the eyes of the child start searching for them in the dark. Then the child is lifted and held at eye level, face-to-face with their mother or father. The tension falls away from their little bodies, and the tears dry up as they look into the love, mercy, grace, and smiling favor of the one who gave them life.
Friends, at the cross, we were covered by the shelter of the shadow of the finished work of Jesus. We sat wailing in the pit of our sin,
“He [Jesus] brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.” Psalm 40:2
Jesus tenderly lifted us out of sin and established us in a place of safety. Now, we know:
Our old hearts and sinful selves were crucified with Jesus, so that we now no longer live but Christ lives within us (Galatians 2:20).
The life we now live in the body, we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20).
In believing the Son, we have eternal life, looking “upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13) and the wrath of God no longer remains on us (John 3:36)
We will not be ashamed, confounded, or disgraced (Isaiah 54:4) as there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
We have been rescued from the dominion of darkness of Satan and brought us into the kingdom of the Son (Colossians 1:13)