1 By David

The LORD is my light and my salvation.
I fear no one.
The LORD protects my life.
I am afraid of no one.
2 When evil men attack me
to devour my flesh,
when my adversaries and enemies attack me,
they stumble and fall.
3 Even when an army is deployed against me,
I do not fear.
Even when war is imminent,
I remain confident.

4 I have asked the LORD for one thing—
this is what I desire!
I want to live in the LORD’s house all the days of my life,
so I can gaze at the splendour of the LORD
and contemplate in his temple.
5 He will surely give me shelter in the day of danger;
he will hide me in his home.
He will place me on an inaccessible rocky summit.
6 Now I will triumph over my enemies who surround me.
I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy.
I will sing praises to the LORD.

7 Hear me, O LORD, when I cry out.
Have mercy on me and answer me.
8 My heart tells me to pray to you,
and I do pray to you, O LORD.
9 Do not reject me.
Do not push your servant away in anger.
You are my deliverer.
Do not forsake or abandon me,
O God who vindicates me.
10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me,
the LORD would take me in.

11 Teach me how you want me to live, LORD;
lead me along a level path because of those who wait to ambush me.
12 Do not turn me over to my enemies,
for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me.
13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience
the LORD’s favour in the land of the living?
14 Rely on the LORD!
Be strong and confident!
Rely on the LORD! (Psalm 27, NET).

What a lovely psalm! Psalm 27 is another one of those brilliant poems of David that have inspired musicians through the ages of Christendom to make a myriad of hymns and choruses and other spiritual songs. It’s easy to see why; the beautiful imagery around God being both strength and light, the desire to be in His holy presence in worship, the expression of confidence in God’s favour, even in this difficult life.

And it is difficult. I love praying the psalms for their honesty, their unflinching look at the pain and difficulty we find ourselves facing. We don’t get any firm clues as to when David is writing this, but one can well imagine the young man on the run from his erstwhile benefactor, King Saul, having married into Saul’s house, but now running for his life as Saul’s jealousy and paranoia took over his actions. This isn’t the prayer of a desperate man in the immediate loneliness of that shocking turn of events (see 1 Samuel 14-21 for the whole sequence until David ends up cast out), but it does sound like someone wandering in a wilderness, aware of enemies waiting in ambush (verse 11), knowing there are people ready to lie out of malice or their own ambition (verse 12). David was on the run from Saul for something like 8-10 years (that’s chapters 21-31 of 1 Samuel), but during that time, became a warlord himself—he was already the most famous soldier in the history of Israel for his killing of Goliath and he seemed to acquit himself well in the time that followed that legendary battle—and gathered a loyal following of men who ran with him.

It was not a life of surety. David faced evil men (verse 2) on all sides, people he once thought of as friends or allies, others who he knew opposed the people of God. Multiple times you read about the armies deployed (verse 3) against him. Yet David is expressing a faith here that I would love to emulate. I get so caught up in my own little problems and I’ve yet to have to face down an army or endure the pursuit of an evil man. David’s expression of confidence, that God is leading him, lighting his path, and protecting him, a stronghold in a time of chaos, is where he starts and where he finishes this poem, an inclusio expressing a faith I want to emulate. O my soul, rely on the LORD! Be strong and confident because you’re relying on the LORD!

I love the image of a homeless David, cast out of the palace, unable to return to his father’s fields, bunking down in a tent or a cave, but from that deep well of faithfulness, that deep place of trust, still crafting a poem, a prayer, a song asking God, not for his own place, but to be in the house of the LORD. It’s a great moment of instruction for us. In our stable western culture, we have our abodes. We spend years renovating them and moving between them, taking comfort and security in lockable doors and shut-able windows, central heating and air conditioning, ovens, be they conventional or microwave, to heat our meals to food-safe temperatures. But are these “home”? We make them home to the best of our abilities, but in verse 4, I’m reminded that our efforts to make house into home are a foreshadowing effort. David didn’t sing of being in the palace, of slaying Saul particularly (though he did sing about God giving him victory over his enemies) and taking his stuff. David didn’t sing of finding comfort or taking his ease. He sang a prayer of contentment, or at least of intention towards contentment, to the God who gives us our eternal home. O my soul, desire to live in God’s house, gazing upon His splendour, contemplating His greatness and goodness!

David’s not in a position of desperation, but he recognizes that he has certainly occupied that state. He reminds God that he (God) has always been faithful to incline and listen to his (David’s) cries. He also reminds himself to keep crying, to keep praying, to keep asking, to keep working the problem of our discontentedness, our disconnection from God that comes about through sin (verses 7-9). O my soul, cry out to the LORD in desperation! Pray in the quiet places of life! Look for God’s light to guide you! Trust in God, the Solid Rock, to be your stronghold when sin buffets you!

I find verses 11 and 13 acting in parallel for me at the end of the poem. David has this expression of desire to be taught righteousness, God’s ways, God’s intentions for his life, and an expression of faithfulness, trust that God is going to show him favour in this land of those still living, surrounding an expression of concern about his enemies who want to make him out to be a villain, and who want to destroy him. David’s story is a strange one, a controversial one even. I’ve read books that call David a usurper, a rebel against a legitimate king. This position does not take into account the still stranger story of the Samuel and Kings narrative, that God’s people ask for a king like the other nations, and He gives them one (and a bunch more of this ilk later) who acts just as evilly as your run of the mill ancient king acted. He then replaces that king with a man who submitted to heavenly authority, who honoured the prophets, who, when called out for some evil of his own (just a teensy bit of adultery and conspiracy to murder), repented, and even honoured God’s mouthpiece (the prophet Nathan) who called out his evil. Samuel’s account of why God chooses to anoint David is that God was looking at the heart of the matter, at the heart of the man, instead of at the outward things. David’s poetry consistently shows us that heart. O my soul, may I too yearn for righteousness, be ready to submit to holy correction, and persist in faithfulness that God will show favour to those who pursue His kingdom and righteousness steadfastly and with their whole heart!

I pray this week that you join me in those prayers, and that you learn to find more joy and take more solace in praying the psalms with the generations of faithful that have come before us, and the generations who will still find joy and solace in them from now until Christ’s return to live with us in our forever home. Amen!