Psalm 27

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

We are all afraid of something at some point in our lives. Fear can paralyze us; fear can be an obsession; fears may be based on real or imagined threats; fear can cripple healthy living. If fear is allowed to run wild in our hearts and minds it can even mess with our faith.

            Several years ago I was in a poor state of mind. I was filled with anxiety over many things. Even the phone ringing gave me cause to panic and send my heart racing. One of the worst things about anxiety and panic is when your imagination tells you that the pain in your side is some disease. A person who is overly sensitive to fears and effects will run to the computer and look up diseases on WebMD. This is a bad thing to do because you will find that your symptoms match many medical issues, or so you think.

            One day, after a having given a blood sample, the doctor’s office called me for a special consultation. I thought, “Here we go,” and my fears led me to the worst place. I was sure the doctor was going to give me bad news. Sure enough, the doctor told me I had Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). My immediate thought was, “How long do I have?” I must have started babbling about how I knew this day would come and so on. But the doctor just mumbled that antibiotics would take care of it. I thought, “Huh?” He said, “It’s just ulcers.”

            We don’t have enemies to fear like David did, men who want to take our lives. Our enemies have more to do with our health and threats to our livelihood. But fear is fear. How do we deal with those things that cause us to be afraid?

            Psalm 27 was the Bible’s answer to my own personal fears. David’s struggle with fear and the answer to it is found in this Psalm. The answer is so simple you might scoff at it. David basically says: To overcome fear, seek the LORD.

            I found that the 14 verses of this Psalm are like an inflatable life raft: once you pull the cord it’s bigger than you thought. So we are going to look at four thoughts – fear, seek, pray, and wait.

1. What is there to fear?

David had faced bears and lions when tending his father’s flocks. As a teenager he had faced down Goliath and killed him with a mere stone. Scholars suggest that David was being pursued by Saul at this stage of his life due to several notes in this Psalm: David is away from home, far from the Tabernacle in Jerusalem, far from mom and dad, while being pursued by enemies. Despite his successes, the absence of these familiar comforts could add to his anxiety. Plus, his successes may have caused him to trust in his own reputation, but in his time of fear David turns to the Lord.

            “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?” (1).

            When our fears grip us, our tendency is find our own way out. We put our trust in our own devices and try to figure out our own solutions. Fear, however, has a way of muddling our senses and logic. Our decisions can become knee-jerk reactions instead of thoughtful and reasonable.

            David recognized that God was his light, his point of reference while darkness closed in on him. He saw his salvation, his deliverance, was in God alone. David could run to God, no matter the circumstances, and God would be like fortress walls surrounding him, protecting him.

            Salvation can be seen in two ways: There is the ultimate salvation we receive in Christ who died for us and forgives us our sins which we will realize fully when He comes again; then there is the “deliverance” we experience in the day-to-day experiences. We might wonder about this second aspect because we are still waiting for deliverance from some fear we are wrestling with. But consider this: If the Lord has saved us apart from our own efforts, will He not defend us and help us and save us in the here and now until He comes again? As Paul put it, “…those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Ro. 8:30-31).

            What can be against us? What is there to fear?

            Martin Luther made this interesting observation in his Table Talk: "God and the devil take opposite tactics in regard to fear. The Lord first allows us to become afraid, that he might relieve our fears and comfort us. The devil, on the other hand, first makes us feel secure in our pride and sins, that we might later be overwhelmed with fear and despair."

            Fear can go two ways. It will either drive us to the Lord or away from the Lord. David took fear as a signal to run to the Lord.

2. Seek the Presence of God

If you and I were writing this Psalm we might have written v. 4 differently: “One thing I ask from the LORD, this is what I seek: GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

            “One thing…” How would you finish that sentence? If you could ask God for one thing, what would it be?

            David puts his finger on the one thing that matters to a believer – the only deliverance that matters comes from seeking the presence of God.

            In verses 4-6, David writes about dwelling in “the house of the LORD all the days of my life,” seeking Him in His temple, being safe in His dwelling, hiding in the shelter of His tabernacle. These are all synonyms for the same thing. David was not talking about literally living in a church building; he was talking about living in God’s presence, knowing God’s presence daily in his life. This is the singleness of desire that he was talking about. This is the ONE THING that a person afraid needs to desire.

            How does seeking the beauty of the LORD quell my fears? A few years ago my family visited Bear Country USA in SD. In one compound they had the big and lazy bears that you could drive through and observe. In another compound they had the cubs who were full of life and fun. One cub was being picked on by the other cubs, so he ran to the ranger and wrapped his paws around her legs for protection.

            David wasn’t just looking for an escape from his fears and troubles, but for an ongoing experience of God. He used his fears to drive him to a deeper relationship with the God who loved him and could protect him. To behold the beauty of the LORD is to be emotionally caught up with the very being of God. This is the ONE THING David sought.

            This may remind you of another story. Jesus and his disciples stopped at the home of some friends in the midst of their journeys. Martha and Mary opened their home to the men and Martha set to work preparing food while Mary sat and listened to Jesus. Martha was upset that Mary did not help her, but Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha…you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her,” (Lk. 10:41-42).

            Oh, to sit at the feet of Jesus. Let the worries and fears be what they are, just let me sit at the feet of Jesus. That is the ONE THING.

3. Pray when Fear threatens again

Even so, seeking the presence of the LORD can be interrupted by our human tendencies. In other words, we are easily distracted. Fear will try to get back into our minds. Someone said that if we close the door on fear it will try to come in the window. When fear returns, we need to seek the LORD by redirecting our focus to Him through prayer.

            In verses 7-12 David says five things about prayer.

a) Prayer is my needing God – David acknowledged his need of God through prayer. He cried out, “Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me,” (7). We really are dependent on God for all our needs. God is good and all good things come from Him. If we want to know the source of all the good we desire, Col. 1:17 tells us that all things hold together in God. He sustains all things.          

b) Prayer is my seeking His help – David desired mercy; he desired God’s help, so he asked God. He was not too proud to ask. Sometimes we don’t ask because we think we won’t get what we desire. Other times we may think that what we ask for is too insignificant. A woman approached the well-known Bible teacher, G. Campbell Morgan, after one of his talks and asked, “Dr. Morgan, should we pray about everything in our lives, or just the big things?” In his formal, British manner Dr. Morgan stiffened up and said, “Madam, can you think of anything in your life that is big to God?” David said, “Your face, LORD, will I seek,” (8). To seek His face is to get lost in His mercy.

c) Prayer is my acknowledging my best relationship – David’s parents did not abandon him, as we read v. 10. He said, “Though my mother and father forsake me…” (10). What he meant was that even if the most basic, intimate, earthly relationships should fail, he knows that he still has access to God. There is nothing that will cut us off from prayer as our link to our Heavenly Father.

d) Prayer is my obedience – David understood that nothing hinders prayer like disobedience. Conversely, when we commit ourselves to doing what pleases God, we open up the possibilities in what we seek from God. “Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path…” (11).

e) Prayer is my way of seeking God’s protection – That’s what we are looking for when our fears overwhelm us, right? We want God’s protection from what scares us. But the whole process of what I just described is a package of prayer: we need God – so we seek His help – because it is my best relationship – so I will obey God – and out of that love relationship with God I find my divine protector. David prayed, “Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence,” (12). One thing I love about David’s prayers is his honesty. He just lays it out before God. This is what I fear – this is what I’m up against – please deliver me. That’s prayer.

4. Wait for God

David concludes this psalm with a confident note. “I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living,” (13). This is biblical proof that our “salvation” is not just a future hope but also a present reality. God does care about the present difficulties we face and He does deliver us.

            The key for David is to wait, “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD,” (14). But what does it mean to wait?

            Let the Bible answer that question:

Proverbs 20:22 says, “Do not say, ‘I’ll pay you back for this wrong!’ Wait for the LORD and he will deliver you.” Scholars figure that Ps. 27 is based on 1 Sam. 23:26ff where David and his men are on one side of a mountain and Saul and his army are on the other side. They are about to collide in a bloody battle at the end of the mountain when a messenger comes to Saul and says the Philistines are raiding the land. Saul leaves and David is spared a possible defeat. Strange huh?

            Lamentations 3:25-26 reads, “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” Waiting implies a confident trust in God rather than in human means. Waiting takes patience and faith when the enemy is closing in but it also shows that certain trust in the Lord and His will.

            And for those who are infirm or feeling weak, we turn to the famous Isaiah passage in the KJV, “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles…” (Is. 40:31).

            Wait for the LORD. That’s a tough prescription in an instant society. It’s tough when our fears, our worst fears look to be winning and coming true. But we cannot lose hope. We must believe that “The Lord is my light and my salvation…the stronghold of my life.”

Many years ago a number of people in the jungles of Central Africa came to know Jesus through gospel preaching. Since they had no church building where they could gather for prayer, they cleared a central spot in the jungle for this purpose. Soon individual trails from many different directions converged there as believers walked through the grass to that place of meeting with God. Whenever a Christian seemed to be losing his first love, the others would admonish him by saying, “Brother, the grass is growing on your path.”

            Mary discovered that only one thing is needed: to sit at the feet of Jesus. Nothing else mattered. David preceded her in discovering that the one thing that mattered in his life was hiding in God, not just when fears and enemies assaulted him, but always.

            How grows the grass on your path?

            Wait for the LORD. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ…” (Titus 2:11-13).

                                                            AMEN