Psalms 27:1. The Lord is my light and my salvation;
First comes light, and then salvation. We are not saved in ignorance; the knowledge of our sinfulness is revealed to us, we discover our true condition in the sight of God, and then we perceive the mercy and the love of God. We see first the light and then the fullness of salvation, for this is not a matter of the past only, but of the present. At this very hour, each believer can say, «The Lord is my light and my salvation.» Can you say that, dear friend? If so, there is more real eloquence in that little sentence than in all the orations of Cicero.
Psalms 27:1. Whom shall I fear?
«There is nobody that I have any need to fear. I need not fear the powers of darkness, for ‘the Lord is my light.' I need not fear damnation, for ‘the Lord is my salvation.' Then, ‘Whom shall I fear?'»
Psalms 27:1. The LORD is the strength of my life;
Is not that a wonderful expression? Ordinarily, a man lives by the strength of his constitution, but the spiritual life lives by the strength of God within the soul.
Psalms 27:1. Of whom shall I be afraid
«For, if God be my strength, then am I strong as Samson, and I may slay the lion or the Philistines with equal ease.»
Psalms 27:2. When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
Good men have enemies because they are good men. There are two classes in the world, the righteous and the wicked, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent; and you know that, even in Eden, the Lord said to the serpent, «I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.» We must expect, then, if we are among the righteous, that we shall be attacked by the wicked; but, when they come against us, we may believe that they shall be overcome even before we strike a single blow in our own defense.
Psalms 27:3. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
You know that, usually, we do fear just before the battle begins, when we see the enemy encamped against us. We do not know what they are going to do, and we are sure to imagine the very worst; but such was David's confidence in his God, that he said, «Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.» There they lie, their legions marshalled against him in all their dread array; but says the psalmist, «In this will I be confident.» Oh! the joy of the man who has received this confidence from God; and who is, therefore,
«Calm ‘mid the bewildering cry,
Confident of victory.»
Psalms 27:4. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.
Did David refer to any special spot, or to any one sacred shrine? I think not. He meant that he wished to be always at home with God; and that, you know, we also can be in our own houses or in the fields, on the land or on, the sea. This was David's great desire, that he might always dwell with God, like a child at home, wherever he was; and that he might have such communion with God that he might «behold the beauty of the Lord,» and that he might ask of God guidance in all his difficulties: «and to inquire in his temple.» Those are two things, dear friends, for which I hope many of us have come here, that we may behold God's graciousness and loveliness in the ordinances of his sanctuary, and that we may ask and receive of him help in all our difficulties, and guidance in all our dilemmas. How often, in this house, has God spoken so personally to his dear children that they have thought that the preacher knew all about them, when he really knew nothing whatever of them, though God did, and sent a message by his servant, straight to their souls!
Psalms 27:5. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
If I dwell with God, he will hide me away in the pavilion of his sovereignty; and, so long as he is King, and that will be for ever and ever:, he will not let me perish. His sword and shield shall be stretched out for my defense. Then God has also a tabernacle as well as a royal pavilion; as of old he had the holy of holies, into which no man could enter, on pain of death, save only the high priest on the appointed day. «In the time of trouble,» the Lord himself shall take us, and hide us there by the mercy-seat, near the ark of the covenant, where his glory shall shine upon us, and where none can intrude to hurt us. We have the protection of the pavilion of sovereignty and the tabernacle of sacrifice; what two places can be safer? We have also the rock of God's immutability; his people shalt stand on that high mount, beyond the reach of their adversaries, where their feet shall never slide.
Psalms 27:6. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
This is a blessed resolution; oh, that you and I would carry it out more and more! David says twice that he will sing the Lord's praises: «I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.» Come, all ye who sigh, change that word, and say, «I will sing.» Come, all ye who make a mourning noise, and ask the Lord to help you to make a joyful noise before his face. Is not praise comely and fitting in the presence of such a God as he is who has dealt so well with us? Let each individual who knows the goodness of God say, «I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.»
Psalms 27:7. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice I have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
The psalmist has only just begun praising when he takes to praying; and that should be a Christian's double occupation, praising and praying. I have often said that, as our life is made up of breathing in and breathing out, so we should breathe in the atmosphere of heaven by prayer, and then breathe it out again in praise.
«Prayer and praise, with sins forgiven,
Bring down to earth the bliss of heaven.
Psalms 27:8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
David springs forward to accept the divine invitation; the invitation was general: «Seek ye my face;» but the response was personal: «Thy face, Lord, will I seek.» Whether others would do so, or not, David resolved and declared that he would seek the face of the Lord; let every one of us, dear friends, do the same.
Psalms 27:9. Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger:
«Dismiss me not thy service, Lord.» You know how masters do sometimes discharge their servants in anger; but what a gracious Master you and I have, beloved, or else he would have sent us adrift long ago! «Get you gone,» he would have said, «you disgrace my house, you mar my work, you do not perform your service well; begone!» But he does not speak or act in that fashion.
Psalms 27:9-10. Thou, hast been my help y leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake we, then the LORD will take me up...
«They carried me when I was a child, and he will carry me now: ‘The Lord will take me up.' When they steel their hearts against me, because I become a Christian, he will love me, and more than make up my loss of their love.»
Psalms 27:11. Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
«Lord, do not let me get into difficulties, so that I shM 1 not know what to do, for my foes are so sharp-eyed that, if they can find a fault in me, they will; and even if there be no fault, they will make one. Therefore, Lord, ‘lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.'»
Psalms 27:12. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
Am I addressing anyone who is being slandered? Has somebody borne false witness against you? Well, be very thankful that it is false. I do not quite understand why it is so often said, «You see, it is such a downright falsehood, and that is what grieves me so.» But, dear friend, it is much better that it should be false than true. If anyone brings an accusation against me, I shall be glad to find that it is false. Let not that be the sting of the trouble which really is the sweetness of it; be glad that they cannot say anything against you unless they speak falsely. However, if you expect to go to heaven without being slandered, you expect what you are not likely to get; for God himself was slandered in Paradise; our Lord Jesus, in whom was no fault, was slandered when he was upon the earth; his apostles and followers in all ages have had the same treatment; sad here is David saying, «False witnesses are risen up against me.»
Psalms 27:13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
That is the point to be noted; there is no getting over fainting except by believing, for believing saves us from swooning, and makes us strong: «I had fainted, unless I had believed.»
Psalms 27:14. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:
Here is a man of God giving us the benefit of his own experience; he waited upon God, and now he bids us do the same, that we may be blessed as he was. At our prayer-meeting before we came in here, one dear friend thanked the Lord that, for more than sixty years, he had been enabled to rest upon the divine promises, and he had never found one of them to fail in the hour of need. These testimonies are very precious. I recollect, in my early Christian days, how my soul was greatly sustained by hearing a blind man say that he had lived on God by faith for more than sixty years, and he had found the Lord faithful to his promises all that time. Those of you:, dear friends, who are younger than others of us, may be comforted by the experience of your seniors; but if we were to live to be ten times as old as Methuselah, we should never find God backward in keeping his promises: he must be true whatever happens.
Psalms 27:14. Wait, I say, on the LORD.
Now let us read just a few verses to remind us of our union with our suffering Lord.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 27:1 and Romans 8:14-17.