Yahweh is my light and my salvation;
Psalm 27
Whom shall I fear?
Yahweh is the strong defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In this I trust.
One thing I have asked from Yahweh, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of Yahweh
And to inquire in His temple.
For in the day of calamity He will conceal me in His shelter;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.
And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with loud shouts of joy;
I will sing, and I will sing praises to Yahweh.
Hear, O Yahweh, when I call with my voice,
And be gracious to me and answer me.
On Your behalf my heart says, “Seek My face,”
“Your face, O Yahweh, I shall seek.”
Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your slave away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not abandon me and do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
But Yahweh will take me up.
Instruct me in Your way, O Yahweh,
And lead me in a level path
Because of my foes.
Do not give me over to the desire of my adversaries,
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of Yahweh
In the land of the living.
Hope in Yahweh;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Hope in Yahweh.
Introduction
In Romans 8, the apostle Paul outlines the perfection of God’s plan, exhorting the believers in Rome to trust that He is sovereign over even their suffering. He tells them, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) He goes on to explain that from before the beginning of the world, God knew those whom He would save, and that this predestination is as good as complete for all those who are truly called. As the capstone to this comfort, Paul then exclaims, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32)
I have no doubt Paul’s mind was drawn to Psalm 27 when he penned that. “Yahweh is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” If God is for us, what can stand against us? The answer to both rhetorical questions is nothing. You should fear nothing because nothing can stand against you when God is for you. When you recognize God as your light, salvation, and defense, then everything else in this world that comes against you is like a gnat. Annoying and troublesome, but entirely harmless.
The face of God
They are not harmless in the sense that they cannot do anything at all to you. Even a small insect can bite or sting. But they are harmless in that nothing any opponent of God can do will be permanent. And that is entirely unlike God who is “from eternity to eternity” (Isaiah 43:13)
Like in other Psalms, David’s plea is to be in the presence of the Lord. He asks only “one thing… from Yahweh,” and that is to dwell with Him. In David’s day, the people had the Temple they could look to and know God’s presence was there. Today we have something even greater than the Temple. Those who belong to Christ make up His Church, and His Church is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16).
And when David proclaims he will seek God’s face, it is a plea to God for Him to take note of David, to remember His promises, and not to forsake him. We, too, ought to seek God’s face and ask Him regularly to remember His promises. He will not leave you, nor will He forsake you either. That does not mean He will spare you from trouble, tribulation, or persecution. But what it does mean is that none of those things will impact your eternal standing with Him – an eternal standing bought and paid for in full by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.
What is hope, anyway?
In closing, David issues a command. It is a command likely meant for himself, but it is also one we ought to learn from: “Hope in Yahweh; be strong and let your heart take courage; hope in Yahweh.” Twice he repeats it, and it bears repeating once more: hope in Yahweh. Because nothing else can deliver.
When you think about hope, it is a matter of trust. We trust small things with small things: an intern with a printout, a child with a message of “dinner’s ready,” or a dog with retrieving a ball. But the higher the stakes, the more trustworthy the one must be for us to place hope in him. What higher stakes can there be than your very life? And who is more trustworthy than God?
When God makes a promise, like “whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16), it benefits us greatly to believe Him. When God promises never to leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5), He means it. Hope in Yahweh, and you will be courageous. Hope in Yahweh, and you will be strong. Because when you hope in God, you have assurance that He will do everything He has promised.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
Leave a Reply