Well, as we sung, and as Elder Chase said, we’ll be in Psalm 27. That song did a good job of paralleling the Scripture. And so as we read it, you will hear much of the words we sung in that song. So I would invite you to turn to Psalm 27.
This is the Psalm of David, verse 1. 1. 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? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and my foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war rise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, the Lord is my light and my salvation. 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. 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 up high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I’ll offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry, Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, Seek my face. My heart says to You, Your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not Your face from me. Turn not Your servant away in anger. O You have been my help. Cast me not off. Forsake me not, O God of my salvation. For my mother and father have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my enemies, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.
Fear. It’s not typically a word we like to think about, but it is a reality in life. And in many ways, I think we can see fear as a learning curve. Because if you think about your kids, when they’re young, they’re fearless. They get into all kinds of trouble. We have to teach them to be careful. Not to touch the sharp objects. Not to touch the hot objects. Not to run out into the street or across the parking lot. And a host of other things. Because young kids do not understand the dangers that are around them. But fear taken to the opposite extreme is not healthy either. It can stop us from trying new things, or taking any risk at all. In life, we must learn to deal with fear. So it’s important to understand the difference between the things that are really harmful and the things we just need to learn to face. Think about teaching your kids to swim. It’s a skill they need to learn, but it’s scary at first. And we typically start them out in the water with floaties or something to get them used to being in the water. We talk about swimming. We show them the technique. Ask them to practice it. But then one day, one day, those floaties come off, and maybe they come to the edge of the pool, and you’re like, okay, jump to me. You don’t have your flotation device. Jump to me. And if they can jump to you, that’s not very scary, because they’ve jumped into your arms many times before. But then take a couple of steps back where they can’t jump all the way to you. And how many times do you see kids freeze at that moment? Because suddenly, they’re aware of the water, and it’s really deep, and you look so far away. So asking them to jump, jump in and swim to you is a different proposition altogether. But what do we tell them? You can do it. Focus on me, and come to me. Which is to say, I will protect you. Yes, it’s very scary, but I will take care of you. And I think in this psalm, David found himself in what we might call a deep water moment in his life. Scripture doesn’t tell us exactly when this psalm was written, but most commentaries think it was during the time he was fleeing. He was fleeing from King Saul. And the language in this psalm would seem to support that, so that’s the approach I’m going to take, take it with that background in mind. Scripture tells us Saul was jealous of David because he was very successful in battle, and the people were singing his praises. Singing his praises, not Saul’s. And Saul got angry at that. And Scripture tells us that from that moment on, Saul kept his eye on David and sought to kill him. So when David found, found himself on the run from Saul, we have to wonder, what was his mindset? I’ve certainly never been in a situation like that. What would be your frame of mind when you’re on the run for your life? And I think David gives us some psalm, some clues in this psalm, and some guidelines for us today when we face difficulty, even if our difficulty isn’t as dire as the difficulty David faced. So let’s first see David’s profession of his confidence in the Lord in verse 1. In verse 1, we see immediately, where’s David’s focus? The Lord. It’s on the Lord. We see his eyes not turn towards his circumstances, but we see him turn toward the Lord. And he declares a couple things about the Lord here in the first phrase. He’s light and salvation.
The sense of the word used here for light is separation of light from darkness. In John 1, 5, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. We’ve all heard that verse. God is light and in him is no darkness. There’s no darkness at all. So we can say God is the source of all light. He has no association with darkness. And before him, all darkness is dispelled. And we see that physically happen in creation in Genesis 1. God says, let there be light, and there’s light. And God separated the light from the darkness. So when God wanted light, light came when he spoke the words, and he was able to separate light from darkness. We would also say, we would also understand this spiritually. Psalm 36, 9. For with you is the fountain of life. In your light do we see light. The same word for light is used here as it was in Genesis, but we would understand this differently. We would understand this to mean that God is the source of all truth. And that truth, or that light,
produces light in us that leads us to the true spiritual life that’s referred here. The light of truth separates us from the darkness of ignorance and unbelief. David declares the Lord to be light. He also declares him to be salvation. And certainly David needed salvation both in the physical sense, in having his life spared, and also in the spiritual sense, in having his soul preserved. Notice he doesn’t just say the Lord is light and salvation. He says the Lord is my light and my salvation. He makes it clear. He makes it personal. It’s one thing to recognize the Lord as light and salvation, but it must not stop there. Many people want to acknowledge a God, but they’re not willing to have that light permeate their soul. And so in the New Testament sense, one must be born again. We must personally, salvation is personal, salvation must be personal, and we must have the light of truth dispel the darkness of sin over our soul and create in us a longing for God. A longing for Christ. A longing we would not have otherwise. A longing for the one who alone can conquer that darkness and produce salvation for us and in us. So then David asked a rhetorical question here. Based on what he said, the answer is clear. Whom shall I fear? He just made a massive declaration of God being light and salvation. So he says, I have no fear. Spurgeon put it this way. The power of darkness, excuse me, the power of darkness, the powers of darkness are not to be feared for the Lord, our light, destroys them and the damnation of hell is not to be dreaded by us for the Lord is our salvation. So for the believer, in every sense, God is our light and our salvation. And then David goes on to declare the Lord to be the stronghold of his life, which is to say, the Lord is his strength, his strong defense, his source of security. The strength, the need to preserve him is not found in him. It’s not found in David. It’s found in the one who is his light and salvation.
So then we get another rhetorical question. Of whom shall I be afraid? The answer is no one. And David goes on in verse 2 to recall a past deliverance from trouble. He recalls a time when evildoers, evildoers, we might say, are those who are deliberately looking to do acts of evil. We have evildoers in our day. And they’re out looking to do acts of evil. They don’t fear the consequences of that. So these evildoers, he said, were desiring to eat up his flesh. And the picture here is of a wild animal. You can think of trying to tear its prey completely apart and devour it. That’s the picture David paints here. And then he also mentions adversaries and foes. Evildoers, adversaries, and foes. Different terms, but I think they all speak to those who would be personal enemies of David and been on his destruction. But David said in the past when they came to do this, what happened? It’s they who stumbled and fell. They thought they would be victorious. They thought that they would have their way. But that didn’t happen.
They did not achieve their purposes and David was delivered.
So verse 2 looks to the past. Verse 3 looks to the future. Though an army and countenance against me, my heart shall not fear. So when all those foes assemble into a massive army, prepare to attack. Just imagine a massive army standing before you. David says, even in that, my heart shall not fear. Sometimes the threat of something happening weighs heavily on our hearts and our minds. And so we start imagining all the negative consequences. So think about an army and countenance out there. And you know they’re out there. And you start thinking about what all might happen. I think this happens to us sometimes. You think about trying to do a report at work. And you work hard on it. You get the report. You turn it in to your boss. And then later you think, I should have said that differently or forgot to say that. And you start imagining all the negative feedback you’re going to get even before your boss says any word to you. Because your mind and your heart is already processing this in a negative way. But we don’t see David doing that. Instead of letting the suspense of the threat of an imminent attack produce dread and fear in his heart, his focus still remains on the Lord instead of his enemy. Steadfast faith gives courage when the heart wants to tremble or shrink back.
And when the enemy might attack, when war might arise against me, David repeats that his confidence, his faith and his trust will remain in the Lord. I think verse 3 is a natural progression of verse 2. If you’ve seen the Lord be faithful in the past, you trust him more for the future.
So David’s success in the past breeds confidence against future foes even though they may be greater in strength and number. I think we can think of it like a muscle. What do we do? We exercise our muscles. Like a muscle, exercise faith yields a stronger faith. We exercise muscles to get stronger. We exercise our faith to get stronger as well. So in these first three verses, David’s presented, a very powerful description of a very strong faith. It’s almost mind-boggling because you’re like, okay, bring on the army. You know, okay, David. But he’s talking about a very strong faith that he has. And friends, this is the kind of faith we desire to have. That faith that stands regardless of circumstances. A faith that stands in the midst of the fear. So, how do we grow that kind of faith? How do we grow our faith into something that’s strong, that’s strong? And I think in the remaining verses, David gives us some clues, some nuggets to think about, to meditate on, that would help us better understand how to do that. And we start seeing that in verse 4. We start seeing David’s longing to be in the Lord’s presence.
David says, start at verse 4, one thing I’ve asked of the Lord. So one thing is this cheap desire. So we might imagine, you’re on the run, David. What are you going to ask for? Surely you’re tired. Surely you’re going to ask for rest. Surely you’re tired of running. Or, Lord, surely this has gone on long enough. Just take me out of it. I’m tired of going through this. Can’t you just take me out of the situation? Or maybe he would long to be with his family again. I have to wonder, what would I ask for in that situation? What would be the longing of my heart? What would I want to ask the Lord for? David’s request, his one thing, is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. All the days of his life.
If David was on the run from Saul, and he’s separated from his home, his possessions, his friends, his family, his nation, and yes, the house of the Lord. Of all the things he could desire, his greatest desire was to be back in the temple. In effect, I think he’s saying that he longed to be in the presence of the Lord again. Because if we think about it for Israel, the temple represented God’s presence. It was established by God. It was the place where he lived among his people. And the most holy place. It’s the place where priests performed their duties and sacrifices were made. It would be the place where their minds and hearts were most focused on the Lord. It was more bitter for David to be exiled from the sanctuary than from his own home. Think about that.
And he goes on to say that his desire was not only to be in the temple, but to dwell there. To linger there. To behold not the beauty of the temple, because by all accounts in Scripture, the temple was very beautiful to look at. It was a sight to behold.
But Scripture says he longed to be there to behold the beauty of the Lord. Not to be there for the sake of being in the temple, but for dwelling with his Lord.
And I think about that in terms of church. Do we come to church just because we come to church? Do we desire just to be in church? Maybe to see friends? Or do we desire to come here because we want to lift up God’s name together and dwell on his beauty?
The word inquire here could be translated meditate. It’s inquire in ESV. It could be meditate. So not only did he long to be there, but it was to focus on God and all that he’s revealed himself to be. And just meditate on that. Meditation is hard. It requires putting everything else aside to do that effectively. So I have to ask Providence Fellowship, do you long to be in the presence of the Lord like that? And yes, he’s omnipresent. So we’re always in the presence of the Lord, but I think you understand what I mean. Do you long to spend focused time with him? Meditating on his word and the beauty of all that it reveals to us about him, about our triune God. Our desire as ransomed believers should be to do that as individuals and to do that corporately as a church. To linger with him ourselves and then come here to share. To share all that he’s revealing to us.
David goes on in verse 5 to restate his confidence. He says, when trouble dictates it, he will hide and conceal me. Or perhaps, when another course of action, when hiding is not the answer, he lifts me high up on a rock. And verse 6, higher than all of my enemies. So we would think that maybe is a place of safety, both in hiding and being highly lifted up as a place of safety.
And then at the end of verse 6, we see David express joy. He says, 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.
The thought of victory over his enemies and once again being back in the temple and the presence of his Lord, what did that produce in him? It produced joy. Shouts of joy. Along with singing, he says, I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
I think joyful praise is the natural byproduct of spending time with the Lord meditating on his beauty. If we spend time with the Lord meditating upon him, naturally I think it produces praise and it produces joy.
And I think perhaps David will worship him when he does get back to the temple, he will worship him in a more profound way now that he’s gone through this difficulty. Because the Lord has a way of using trials in our lives to bring us closer to him in ways we might not have experienced otherwise. We don’t enjoy the trials, but they help us experience something about our Lord that we might not experience otherwise. So as we think about verses 4 through 6, I think we can say our faith deepens when we spend time with the object of our faith, when we spend time with our Lord, focusing on him and his beauty, meditating on all that Scripture reveals to us about him, and deepening our faith in him. Doing that should produce joy in us and praise to him. So when we get to verse 7, we see a shift.
David’s voice has been joyful praise in verse 6. Now his voice shifts to earnest petition. He continues by asking the Lord, he asks the Lord for his continued favor. So we might have to wonder why would that be? And I think if we do spend time with the Lord, meditating upon him and his word and praising, then I think we naturally begin to see just the depth of our unworthiness and the depth of our helplessness apart from the Lord’s sustaining work in us and through us.
Spurgeon said it this way, the pendulum of spirituality swings from prayer to praise. The pendulum of spirituality swings from prayer to praise. So we see in the verse 6, verses praise, and then we see in the verse 6, we see a swing to prayer. So I think Spurgeon is in a sense saying that every believer lives between prayer and praise.
And I say his petition is earnest because you can see an earnestness in what he says in verse 7. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud. Be gracious to me and answer me. There’s an exclamation there. And we begin to see the focus of his prayer, his earnest prayer. You have said, seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek.
God’s voice has said, seek my face. And David’s response to that in his prayer is, yes, Lord, that is what my heart seeks. Again, he’s making it personal. My heart seeks your face. Your face, Lord, do I seek. When we pray, we want the Lord to hear our voice. But are we making sure that first we’re listening to his voice? If we want the Lord to hear our voice, we must be sure we’re listening to his voice.
And notice here in verse 8 when it says seek my face, that’s in the plural. This is a seek my face because it’s going out to all the saints. But David’s response is in the singular and he makes it personal. And so it’s like a readiness in that response. Yes, Lord, I’m here. I’m ready. Your face is what I seek.
And I think this is consistent in what he said in verse 4. Because in verse 4 he said he was seeking to be in the house of the Lord and dwell there all the days of his life. And his response here is consistent with that longing because he says, I want to seek your face. A heart that seeks God’s face is a heart that seeks to be with him all the days of our life.
Friends, the call goes out to us too. Seek my face. Are we doing that? Have you personally answered the call and are committed to seeking his face? Would you say that’s your heart’s chief desire? Would you say that’s your one thing? You know, to be with the Lord, to dwell with him and to seek his face.
But how painful would that be if the command to seek his face was met with his face being turned? A turned face would mean a disapproving or even an angry face. Maybe you’ve said this or maybe you’ve heard somebody else say this. I’m so mad at you, I can’t even look at you. I think that maybe a little bit here what David’s saying. When I seek your face, Lord, I want to find your face. I don’t want your face turned.
Seeking heart longs for the approving face of the Lord. And so David says, hide not your face from me. Turn your servant away in anger.
We think about King Saul, the one David’s running from. King Saul preceded David on the throne. But David didn’t, I’m sorry, Saul did not seem to have the kind of heart that David’s talking about here. 1 Samuel 15 says, there was a day when the Lord said, I regret that I’ve made Saul king for he has turned his face from me. He has backed from following me and has not performed my commandments.
And then later in that passage, Samuel turns to leave and Saul reaches for him and he grabs Samuel’s robe and it tears. And Samuel says, the Lord has torn the kingdom away from you. Excuse me, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. Interesting. How was David better than King Saul? Or how would David be better than King Saul as king? Like Saul, David was by no means perfect or sinless and he had many faults and scripture records some of David’s faults for us. But scripture also tells us that he was a man after God’s own heart. And so I think the real sense in which he was better here is in that, what his heart was longing for. His heart was fully seeking the Lord and his will and Saul’s heart was not. It said that he had turned his back from following the Lord. So we see David saying, my face is toward you. It’s your face that I seek. And it’s almost like Saul has a turn back.
And then David continues on here in verse 9. Cast me not off, forsake me not, O God of my salvation. His earnest petition is, cast me not off, which may refer to like temporary desertions or forsake me not, which would be like a permanent desertion. And he finishes here in verse 9 the way he started with verse 1. He talks about God being his salvation.
In verse 10 he says, for my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
Parents are usually the last to forsake or turn their back on a kid, right? No matter how bad they get, parents are usually the last one to say, okay, I’m done. Or if you’re in a great difficulty, your parents bear with you the longest through that a lot of times. And David says, even if my parents leave me, the Lord will take me in.
He will not forsake me.
That’s what his petition is, Lord, do not forsake me. And I think David has a confidence in that he will not be forsaken in that. Isaiah 40, 11. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young.
And this verse reminds us of the good shepherd. Our salvation. Our savior, Jesus, who has said in Hebrews, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Or whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Notice the parallel in those two verses. David said, cast me not off. And the good shepherd says, I will never cast you out. David said, forsake me not. And the good shepherd says, I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Does that not produce joy in your heart? Does that not produce a heart that wants to praise?
David was confident that he would not be forsaken, even if everyone else in his life did, that the Lord would not forsake him.
Then in verse 11.
Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. So David’s petition now is to be taught God’s ways. That’s the heart of every true believer. We want to know God’s ways. That’s what we’re seeking. But his ways are not naturally known to us, are they? Isaiah makes it clear. Isaiah 55, 8. God says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. So because God’s ways aren’t natural to us, we must be taught them. And not only must we be taught them, we must be led. We must be led down the right path. Or if we think of New Testament terms, be led along the narrow way. I thought of this, the chemistry class. A chemistry class has both classwork or textbook work and lab work. The same instructor, well, in high school it was both. I mean, now maybe in college it’s different people. But in high school it’s the same person. And so that chemistry teacher not only instructed us in the truths of the chemical nature of God’s creation, or the textbook work, he would help us understand the book, but then he would also lead us in the lab. So as we’re in there mixing the chemicals, we’re not blowing stuff up. This is the way you do it. This is what you do. This is what you don’t do. And so I think that’s a good illustration. I hope you agree. Because I think that is a picture of what the Holy Spirit’s work in us is. It’s the Holy Spirit that not only teaches us the truths of the book,
but also leads us in the application of that truth in our own life. Do this. Don’t do this.
And David’s request here is for that level path. Lead me on a level path because of my enemies. And that sense of the word for level is uprightness or morality. David’s request is to be led down God’s upright path as opposed to the ones who might, the one that might be leading you down an upright path. be pursued by his enemies, which we might call the deceitful path. But apart from the Holy Spirit’s leading in our life down the upright path, are we not prone to go down the deceitful path or the wrong path? The Holy Spirit must teach us and lead us in our sanctification.
And then in verse 12, David repeats, Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. Do not give me over to the will of my enemies, and their deceitful, slandering, violent ways might be a way we summarize that. So in David’s earnest petition here in verses 7-12, he tells us that a growing faith must be a seeking faith, one that follows the command to seek the Lord’s face, and that’s the kind of faith that would also desire to be taught God’s ways and to be led down His path. For our heart to want to know God’s ways, it takes a spiritual work in us because it’s not natural to us. So our life should be to walk in a God-pleasing way and to bring honor and glory to His name above all else, certainly above our own name.
And then we get to verses 13 and 14, David encourages patience. Believe and wait.
Patience.
Amid his circumstances, his very difficult circumstances, David restates that his belief, he restates his belief that he would be delivered from his present troubles, and his life would be preserved, and that he would remain in the land of the living. Land of the living means my life is preserved. And he would once again look upon the goodness of the Lord. And I think that may be an allusion back to verse 4, where he talks about thinking, about the Lord, and longing to gaze on the beauty of the Lord in the temple because certainly goodness is one of those characteristics of our Lord.
But David says he’s not only believing, but he’s waiting. Wait for the Lord.
We don’t enjoy waiting, do we? We’re in a microwave world. We want everything fast. Fast.
But we’re not passively waiting, like when you go to a doctor’s office and you’re in the waiting room. You’re going to wait. And you may be held captive there for five minutes or an hour. You don’t know. But you’re just there passively waiting to be called back.
David’s encouragement for his own heart, and for those who would listen to this psalm, both in his day and certainly in ours as well, who have come after, his encouragement is to patiently wait. But wait what? With a strong and courageous heart. Be strong and let your heart take courage.
Not as a person who’s just passing time and maybe your heart is fainting.
We wait not passively, but actively. Practicing the spiritual disciplines that keep our hearts focused on Him and trusting in His plan. Seeking His face. Praising Him. Being taught the Word. Applying it to our lives. Believing and waiting. And just perhaps, the waiting is required for us to grow. You ever think about that? I’m waiting. The Lord is. I am too. I’m waiting for you to grow. I’m waiting for you to understand this biblical truth that I’m trying to get across to you. Either you haven’t acquired it yet or maybe you haven’t fully grasped it.
Genuine faith is pleased to wait for the Lord’s timing. Because His timing is always perfect. Even when our mind and heart might want to tell us otherwise. And boy, does our heart and mind tell us otherwise. Sometimes we have to battle against our own heart and mind to trust the truth of God’s Word. Because our emotions sometimes want to tell us something else. David’s faith is rooted and grounded in the One who is the source of all things. And this reminds me of the tree in Psalm 1. If you’re familiar with Psalm 1 it talks about a tree planted by the streams of the wind. The water. What does Scripture say? It’s fruitful. It doesn’t wither in the dry seasons. It withstands the storms that come against it. It has grown strong because it’s firmly rooted into the source of life and strength. In the case of the tree, the water. It’s firmly rooted. This is the kind of faith that overcomes the fears of life. It’s not swayed during difficult circumstances because it trusts in the One who holds all the circumstances in the palm of His hand.
This kind of faith keeps His eyes fixed on the Source, capital S. Which would be our God and our Savior and His Word. So we have to ask ourselves. I have to ask myself. Do I desire to have this kind of faith? The faith that doesn’t seem to ebb and flow with all the circumstances of life. And I think we would all say yes if we’re believers. So then the question is, Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Are you consistently practicing the spiritual disciplines that would build your faith? If not, today’s the day we need to start doing that. We need to practice the disciplines and do it consistently. So I want to close with this verse from Colossians 2, 6 and 7.
Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. So my prayer for us, Providence Fellowship, is that we may be found faithful, walking in Him, rooted and built up in Christ, and established in the faith. And if we build that kind of faith, it’s that kind of faith that overcomes whatever fears come to us in life. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. Let’s pray.