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Psalm 27
“To cause us to trust the Lord amid the changing moods of faith” The moods of faith are always changing. At the beginning of this Psalm we have David on top of the world praising the Lord but in the last verses he becomes very sad in his spirit. It is not normal that we would always feel the same mood of faith. Sometimes when we trust in the Lord we are way up on the mountain and sometimes when we trust the Lord we are way down in the valley. The first 6 verses may be referred to as “The Fight of Faith” but the final 8 verses may be referred to as “The Fight for Faith”. The fight of faith and the fight for faith are very real. We have to be very careful with these books on the victorious life of faith and biographies of the great saints of the past because it makes us think that our mood of faith should be on top of the mountain all the time. That is simply not true at all and the 27th Psalm testifies to that. The fight for faith is every bit as real as the fight of faith and it is just as important. In fact, notice that the larger portion of the Psalm is devoted to the fight for, rather than the fight of faith. Remember, one of the greatest attributes of Gods people is that they can suffer in faith. Faith suffering is probably best illustrated in Psalm 53:3-4 “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”
What is better to put your trust in God when you are afraid? Or, to trust in God and not be afraid? The answer is found in the question where are you right now? Because you may need either at any time. Don’t expect you will always be in the “I will trust in God and not be afraid” group because that is simply untrue. What we need is to learn to trust in the Lord through all the changing moods of faith.
The opening verses of Psalm 27 could be summarized in the phrase “I will trust and not be afraid” but the final verses could be summarized in the phrase “When I am afraid I will trust in You” This is the great teaching of this 27th Psalm “to teach us to trust in the Lord amid all the changing moods of faith” Psalm 27:1-“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” This phrase “whom shall I fear” is the key to the entire Psalm but notice that this phrase comes after the statement that “The Lord is my light and my salvation”. The Lord is my light in the first 6 verses but the Lord is my light in the presence of darkness in the last 8 verses. What did David say in the 23rd Psalm? “Thou prepare a table before me in the absence of my enemies”—Or did he say in the PRESENCE of my enemies? This is a promise of God that we ought to claim every day. Remember the words to the old hymn “Simply Trusting Everyday” by Ira Sankey “Even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus that is all” This also a good summary of this Psalm.
This 27th Psalm tells us how to have confidence in the Lord of light amidst all the changing moods of faith!
During our study of this wonderful Psalm may we come to know the Lord as our light. Oftentimes, we feel the tension between triumph and tragedy, confidence and anxiousness…and even faith and fear. This Psalm puts words to those seemingly contradictory feelings and validates those feelings before God.
- Basis of our Confidence
- The Lord my Light
- O.T. References to God as “Light”
- Job speaks of heaven as the “abode of light” (Job 38:19).
- Psalm 104 says that God “wraps himself in light as with a garment” (v. 2). Several verses affirm that “the LORD turns my darkness into light” (2 Sam. 22:29; cf. Ps. 18:28).
- Psalm 36:9 declares, “In your light we see light.”
- However, Psalm 27:1 is the only Old Testament text in which God is actually called light.
- N.T. Ref. to Christ as our “Light”- “Light” is actually a name for Christ:
- “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.… The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world” (John 1:5, 9).
- John, who makes this identification, also says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
- O.T. References to God as “Light”
- The Lord my Salvation
- The Lord my High Tower (Stronghold)-Ephesians “that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”-Ephesians 1:20-22 & 2:6. David says the Lord is his “High Tower” and then Paul tells us just how high up that tower goes…all the way to the heavenly realm.
- The Lord my Light
- The Lord is my Light—He illumines me to the nature of the enemy’s attacks in v. 2-3:
- The Enemy Attacks through casting a shroud of darkness
- Dark Accusations-And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. – Revelation 12:10
- Dark Condemnation
- Dark Thoughts—The Flesh
- Dark Temptations
- Dark World System
- The Enemy Attacks through casting a shroud of darkness
- The Lord is my Light—Look to the Light Source in v. 4
- Seeking the Lord of Light– “that will I seek after”
- Desiring Public Worship- “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.”
- The ancient Hebrews did not separate the physical from the spiritual nearly as easy as we do.
- And yet, we are not the Temple in Ephesians 3. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23)
- To quote Dr. Boice at length—”Let me put it like this. There is something to be experienced of God in church that it is not quite so easy to experience elsewhere. Otherwise, why have churches? If it is only instruction we need, we can get that as well by an audio tape or a book. If it is only fellowship, we can find that equally well, perhaps better, in a small home gathering. There is something to be said for the sheer physical singing of the hymns, the sitting in the pews, the actual looking to the pulpit and gazing on the pulpit Bible as it is expounded, the tasting of the sacrament, and the very atmosphere of the place set apart for the worship of God that is spiritually beneficial. Isn’t that true? Haven’t you found a sense of God’s presence simply by being in God’s house? I do not mean to deny that God can (and should) be worshiped elsewhere. But I am suggesting that the actual physical worship of God in the company of other believers can be almost sacramental. For what it is worth, let me state that the Puritans were not as hesitant as we are on this point, since they easily linked the Old Testament temple to specific churches. Richard Sibbes said boldly, “Particular visible churches under visible pastors … now are God’s tabernacle.”
- Beware of any form of worship which takes us away from the physical gathering of the church.
- The Faithful Father-Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. –James 1:17.
- The Father of Lights:
- Gives the Gift of Acceptance
- …of Listening-Verse 11
- …of Guidance-Verse 11
- …of Protection-Verse 1
Conclusion-May we come to know what it means to patiently wait upon the Lord our Light as He guides us through the Land of the Living! -Verses 13-14
