Of David
A
I
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The Lord is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
These my enemies and foes
themselves stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart does not fear;
Though war be waged against me,
even then do I trust.
II
One thing I ask of the Lord;
this I seek:
To dwell in the Lord’s house
all the days of my life,
To gaze on the Lord’s beauty,
to visit his temple.
For God will hide me in his shelter
in time of trouble,
He will conceal me in the cover of his tent;
and set me high upon a rock.
Even now my head is held high
above my enemies on every side!
I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and chant praise to the Lord.
B
I
Hear my voice, Lord, when I call;
have mercy on me and answer me.
“Come,” says my heart, “seek his face”;
your face, Lord, do I seek!
Do not hide your face from me;
do not repel your servant in anger.
You are my salvation; do not cast me off;
do not forsake me, God my savior!
Even if my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will take me in.
II
Lord, show me your way;
lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
Do not abandon me to the desire of my foes;
malicious and lying witnesses have risen against me.
I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord, take courage;
be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!
Psalms 27:1-14
Today we have another strong profession of faith. I love it! It also makes me happy when some of the lines bring favorite hymn-tunes to mind. I bet I will be humming the first two lines of this psalm for the next couple days.
But that’s okay because it’s a message I need to remind myself regularly. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’m not as good as the psalmist at letting go of fear. Maybe if I keep praying these psalms, it will sink in.
So it is easy to focus on the concept of conquering fear in this psalm, especially for me since that is one of the areas I have identified that I need to improve my faith. But there is another thought in this psalm that almost sneaks up on us at the end: “Wait for the Lord.”
We don’t encounter it until the final verse, the final two lines of the psalm. Then it is repeated twice, “wait for the Lord!” This might be the most difficult part of our faith to accept. It is so difficult to wait.
Why is that so? Are human beings just naturally impatient? Maybe it’s because we don’t tend to go to the Lord with little requests. Usually, when something has become such an issue that we feel the need to ask God for help, it is already feeling pretty urgent.
Furthermore, Jesus encouraged us to turn to God with our problems. “…if you have faith and do not waver, …even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:21-22)
Still, there are a lot of people in the world who are waiting for an answer to a prayer. Certainly, God is going to do what he knows is best for us, even when we don’t understand. So that might be why we find ourselves waiting.
Also, Jesus started that statement with a fairly significant “if” clause, “if you have faith and do not waver…” Do any of you have that kind of faith? Of course we strive for that faith, but who can really be that confident?
…and so we wait, and pray along with the psalmist, “Lord, show me your way.” If we support one another, maybe we will all get to the place where we can move that mountain!