It Starts Small

A proven confidence.

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom should I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
whom should I dread?
² When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh,
my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell.
³ Though an army deploys against me,
my heart will not be afraid;
though a war breaks out against me,
I will still be confident.

Psalm 27:1-3

The LORD is my light and my salvation: Like many psalms, King David wrote this from a season of trouble. Yet it is a song of confidence and triumph: because David was not in darkness or ultimate peril because the LORD was his light and salvation. God Himself brought light to David’s life. He did not despair in darkness and all that it represented. His life was filled with the LORD, and his life was filled with light.

God Himself brought salvation to David. He probably meant this as rescue both in the immediate and the ultimate senses. God had rescued him time and again, and would do so into eternity. The Hebrew word for salvation means ‘deliverance’ explicitly, and again this probably has to do with deliverance from the king’s immediate enemies. Although God is often associated with light in the Bible, this verse is the only direct application of the name light to God in the Old Testament.

 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

John 1:5, 9

These scriptures in John say this specifically of Jesus.

Light and salvation were also wonderfully promised to the Gentiles through the person and work of the Messiah.

he says,
“It is not enough for you to be my servant
raising up the tribes of Jacob
and restoring the protected ones of Israel.
I will also make you a light for the nations,
to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 49:6

For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

I have made you
a light for the Gentiles
to bring salvation
to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 13:47

The LORD is the strength of my life: David was a skilled, experienced warrior and must have been a man of impressive physical strength. Nevertheless, he looked to the LORD as the strength of his life. David knew something of what the Apostle Paul would write many years later:

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.

Ephesians 6:10

If we rarely know what it is to have God be the strength of our life, perhaps it is because we trust in so many other things for strength. We find it easy to trust in our wisdom, our experience, our friends, and our resources. David knew a strength greater than all of those.

Whom shall I dread?…Of whom shall I be afraid? David used the poetic tool of repetition to make his point and bring together parallel ideas. Because God was his light, his salvation, and his strength, there was really no reason to dread or be afraid.

When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh…they stumbled and fell: David remembered how God had proven Himself reliable in the past. There were times when the wicked or even an army came against him, yet God still showed that He was David’s light, his salvation, and his strength. David’s confidence in God was battle-tested. He did not have fair-weather faith that lived in always-easy circumstances. This isn’t the joy of a man in a comfortable monastery; this is the song of a man who knew God’s goodness even in danger and despair.

1 Samuel 17:44 relates that Goliath told the young David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field! Perhaps David remembered that when he wrote, When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.

They stumbled and fell: God’s breath blew them off their legs…. This was literally true in the case of our Lord in Gethsemane, when those who came to take him went backward and fell to the ground; and herein he was a prophetic representative of all wrestling believers who, rising from their knees shall, by the power of faith, throw their foes upon their faces.

In this will I be confident: Because of his confidence in the Lord, the psalmist is not afraid. In his inner being there is no fear. This confident confession in God’s saving love is similar to Paul’s confession:

³¹ What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? ³³ Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. ³⁴ Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

Because of you
we are being put to death all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.^[a]

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39

David’s desire for God’s presence.

⁴ I have asked one thing from the Lord;
it is what I desire:
to dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
gazing on the beauty of the Lord
and seeking him in his temple.

Psalm 27:4

One thing I have asked of the LORD: The tone of the song suddenly changes from celebration to contemplation. The experience of the goodness and greatness of God made David think about how wonderful it is to seek Him and to experience His presence. One purpose dominated his prayer and life. It was never long absent from the Psalmist’s thought. The men of one idea are irresistible.

to dwell in the house of the Lord: David wished he could live in the tabernacle itself, surrounded every day by the presence and beauty of God. In these few verses we note the many ways David referred to the house of the LORD. David seems to be ransacking the Hebrew language for nouns to describe it:

‘the house of the Lord’ (Psalm 27:4)

‘his temple’ (Psalm 27:4)

‘his dwelling’ (Psalm 27:5)

‘his tabernacle’ (Psalm 27:5-6)

gazing on the beauty of the Lord: David knew there was beauty in the nature and presence of God, beauty that could be perceived by the seeking eye of faith. He could think of no greater occupation than to fill his mind and heart with the goodness and greatness of God. There is richness in God, revealed to the seeking heart, that many people never know. It is a shame that David knew this under the Old Covenant, and so many of us – with a greater covenant and greater promises – never know it. The character of God is attractive, and fitted to inspire us with love for him, and to make us, as it were, run after him.

Alexander Pope, a famous writer, once wrote: “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; the proper study of mankind is man.” He thought it was more important for us to learn about ourselves than about God. A famous writer, Charles Spurgeon, responded to Pope’s statement: “It has been said by someone that ‘the proper study of mankind is man.’ I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.” (This came from Spurgeon’s first published sermon, titled The Immutability of God, delivered on January 7, 1855)

seeking him in his temple: In God’s presence, David wished to go from contemplation to inquiry. He wanted to know more of God and more of His ways. It wasn’t that the earthly structure so fascinated David; he wrote this when the tabernacle tent served as a rather humble temple for Israel, before the wonderful building that Solomon built.

David reveals the two acts complete the joyful employment of a soul communing with God: first perceiving and then reflecting upon His uncreated beauty of goodness.

The blessings of God’s presence.

⁵ For he will conceal me in his shelter
in the day of adversity;
he will hide me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.
⁶ Then my head will be high
above my enemies around me;
I will offer sacrifices in his tent with shouts of joy.
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Psalm 27:5-6

 For he will conceal me in his shelterin the day of adversity: David knew that there was special blessing and protection for the one who earnestly sought God. It wasn’t a promise to prevent all trouble, but to give security and blessing even in the midst of it. God’s dwelling is a ‘tent,’ where He will shelter His guests. The privilege of asylum is theirs.

He shall set me high upon a rock: David believed that a life spent seeking God would know a measure of safety and security, even in the presence of enemies all around.

i. My head shall be lifted on high: Two things make the head hang down – fear and shame; hope easeth the Christian’s heart of both these, and so forbids him to give any sign of a desponding mind by a dejected countenance.

I will offer sacrifices in his tent with shouts of joy: David’s life was filled with celebration and gratitude for all God had done. He would sing praises to the LORD who blessed him with His presence and rescued him so often.

Seeking the faithful God.

⁷ Lord, hear my voice when I call;
be gracious to me and answer me.
⁸ My heart says this about you:
“Seek his face.”
Lord, I will seek your face.
⁹ Do not hide your face from me;
do not turn your servant away in anger.
You have been my helper;
do not leave me or abandon me,
God of my salvation.
¹⁰ Even if my father and mother abandon me,
the Lord cares for me.

Psalm 27:7-10

 Lord, hear my voice when I call: The celebration of the first half of this psalm might make us think that it was all easy for David. One might think that when trouble came there was no struggle, either with self or God. Yet David showed us that even he – the one who sought God with such passion – sometimes felt that God did not hear him immediately.

 My heart says this about you:“Seek his face.”: God invited David to seek Him; yet there was a sense in which David felt that God was hiding from him (Do not hide Your face from me). David didn’t become angry with God or turn against Him; in his disappointment he sought God all the more diligently and desperately (Do not leave me nor forsake me).

You have been my helper;do not leave me or abandon me,God of my salvation: David used God’s past help as a reason to ask and expect future help

Even if my father and mother abandon me,the Lord cares for me.: David knew that the love and care of God could go beyond even the closest human bonds. David probably did not expect his parents to forsake him; yet even if they did, God would not. David sent his parents to Moab for protection in 1 Samuel 22:3-4. Perhaps, without their ever intending it, this made David feel forsaken by his parents.

A believing prayer for guidance.

¹¹ Because of my adversaries,
show me your way, Lord,
and lead me on a level path.
¹² Do not give me over to the will of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing violence.

¹³ I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living.

Psalm 27:11-13

Because of my adversaries, show me your way: This was a simple prayer for a life of true discipleship. David did not want to live his way, but the LORD’s way.

lead me on a level path: David didn’t ask for an easy path, but instead a level or even place, a place of secure standing. It’s the same word used in Psalm 26:12 to describe an even place. The simplest meaning of the word rendered plain [smooth], is level, or even. David had many adversaries, false witnesses against him, and violent men opposing him. In asking for a smooth path, he wasn’t asking for an easy life but for a stable and secure place to stand against the storms of this life.

My enemies: The word enemies is rendered by Thirtle ‘watchful foes,’ and that exactly conveys the idea. It is that of enemies lying in ambush, waiting to catch him unawares, to attack him treacherously. The plain path for which he asks is one, traveling along which there shall be no pitfalls or lurking places for these foes.

I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodnessin the land of the living: David’s seeking after God, and his knowledge of the Lord, led him to this triumphant statement. He would have given up (lost heart), but he knew that the good God would find a way to show His goodness in this life.

An encouragement to others.

Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart be courageous.
Wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

Wait for the Lord;be strong: Here King David spoke to you and to me, to his readers. From the reservoir of his experience he can encourage us to seek after God (Wait on the LORD) and to take courage in Him (be of good courage). Be Strong.

let your heart be courageous: This profound promise is for us. Across the centuries David spoke to us, telling us to be confident that there is strength in the LORD for those who seek Him and trust Him.

Wait for the Lord: As in Isaiah 40:31, the idea behind wait…on the LORD is not a passive sitting around until the LORD does something. Yes, God gives us strength; but we don’t expect it to come as if He were pouring it into us as we sit passively. He brings it to us as we seek Him, and rely on Him, instead of relying on our own strength. If we are weak, it is because we do not wait…on the LORD.

We should wait on the LORD:

·As a beggar waits for handouts at the rich man’s door.

·As a student waits to be taught.

·As a servant waits on his master.

·As a traveler waits for the directions of the guide.

As a child waits upon his parent.