Psalm 27:1-14

“1 The Lord is my light and my salvation so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? 2 When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 3 Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. 4 The one thing I ask of the Lord, the thing I seek most is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. 5 For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. 6 Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music. 7 Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me! 8 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” 9 Do not turn your back on me. Do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper. Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me, O God of my salvation! 10 Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close. 11 Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. 12 Do not let me fall into their hands. For they accuse me of things I’ve never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence. 13 Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. 14 Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”

Not only did David look to the Lord and live with the Lord but he also:

• Listened to the Lord vs 7-10

David focused on God by listening to His voice over the voice of fear or that of the cynical critics. Are you going to listen to the Lord and hear the voice of victory or that of the naysayers who want to fill you with fear? As David meditated in God’s Temple, he mulled over God’s word. Which means that he took the time to chew over his conversation with God, so that instead of choking on God’s Will He was able to swallow and digest it. One of the reasons we struggle to swallow God’s Word and have difficulty digesting it is that we don’t take the time to chew it. Our quiet time with God should involve contemplation not just conversation. If we fail to take the time to chew over God’s Word we will end up with indigestion, instead of satisfaction we will have a stomach ache. David chose to listen to the Lord which means he learned to let God speak, he didn’t try to control the conversation. How about you are you dominating the time and trying to dictate to the deity? Or are you letting Him lead while you listen? So often our prayer time amounts too little more than petitioning without paying attention. We dominate the time with our demands, ramroding our requests without ever realizing what it is that God wants to say. Is there a place in your prayer life to listen, a space for God to speak? When we create space for God to speak we learn to listen to the voice of counsel instead of confusion. When we chose to look to God, live with God, and listen to God we will come to know Him intimately. We will stop seeking a solution and start seeking the Savior. As we do we will be able to look fear in the face and by faith like David voice the victory, “5 For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. 6 Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.” Which voice are you going to listen to the victor and live in the victory or that of the enemy and live as a victim? Looking to the Lord, living with the Lord, and listen to the Lord will result in:

• Letting the Lord Lead vs 11-14

As David prays he acknowledges his need for God, which means that he is confessing that he cannot handle life by himself. When we admit our need for the Almighty we will turn to Him and learn to wait on Him. Letting the Lord lead means learning to rely and rest on Him. This means that David turned to God trusting only in Him to intervene on His behalf with concern and compassion, verse 7, “Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me!” He also turned to God for guidance and protection, verse 11, “Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.” God desires to see child-like dependence, where we come to Him with all of our heart and say “I need you!” So often we miss God’s peace and end up living in the fear because instead of going to God for help we try to handle things on our own. What about you are you trusting or trying? When my children were little and became sacred they would turn to me and hold on tightly. Instead of facing their fears on their own they turned to their father and so should we. Verse 8 reminds us that we can be confident when we come to God because He is the one calling us: “My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” How will you respond to God’s invitation to come and commune, are you going to seek His comfort or stay in the chaos? God cares about His children, He will never turn you away. Sometimes we are fearful to come to Him because we feel that we have let God down and He no longer wants us. David expresses this fear as he says in verse 9 “do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger… Do not reject me or forsake me…” But in verse 10 he focuses on the truth and rests in the reassurance that God will never reject us no matter what! As David chose to focus on God his fears dissipated and his heart grew confident that he would see “the goodness of the Lord” even though he had not yet received the answer he was looking and longed for. It is here that David gives us some of the greatest counsel concerning God, verse 14 to “wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart…” Like David we have many reasons to fear but we also have one greater reason to have peace. As we like David focused on the Lord and remember that he is the source of our Light, our Salvation, and our Stronghold we can have victory over fear. What about you are you going to live in the worry or wait on the Lord?

Psalm 27:1-14

“1 The Lord is my light and my salvation so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? 2 When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 3 Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. 4 The one thing I ask of the Lord, the thing I seek most is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. 5 For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. 6 Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music. 7 Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me! 8 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” 9 Do not turn your back on me. Do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper. Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me, O God of my salvation! 10 Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close. 11 Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. 12 Do not let me fall into their hands. For they accuse me of things I’ve never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence. 13 Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. 14 Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”

As David chose to focus on the Lord his fear diminished and his confidence grew, instead of being anxious he was assured. This doesn’t mean that David lived a problem free life, he still anticipated adversity for he says, “when evil men…” and “when my enemies…” David says “when” not “if,” he expects to have times of trouble and turmoil in his life. God provides a way for us to be free from a troubled heart but not from troubled times. You see focusing on the Father doesn’t remove our problems it radically changes our perspective. Instead of living in the panic we live in His presence. David makes a bold statement: “Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident” We can have confidence in the chaos because our confidence is based on Christ not our circumstances. As we focus on the Father our faith will be strengthened so that in every situation, we like David we can say, “even then” I will not fear. So if tomorrow the doctor tells you that you have terminal cancer you can face the future fear free. If your finances fail, or your country goes through economic collapse and you end up laid off without any job opportunities in sight, you can still have absolute assurance and peace. As God’s people we don’t have to panic, we can experience peace and calm as we trust in Christ.  Not only do we need to look to the Lord but we need to:

• Live with the Lord Vs 4-6

Being dependent on the Lord means dwelling with Him and it is here that David talks about doing life with the Lord. Now these next few verses are often taken out of context in an attempt to encourage us to put God as our highest priority and greatest desire. While putting the Father first in our lives should be a priority, we need to be careful that we don’t miss the context and the connection these verses have to the subject of fear. The message of verse four is that God is David’s all-in-all, his everything. As David focused on God with every part of his life it enabled him to live with great faith and confidence. David chose to dwell with the Lord not dabble. He had a single-minded focus on God, not a side tracked one, saying “one thing I ask of the Lord, the thing I seek.” David’s first desired was to “dwell in the house of the Lord” to come close and commune with God. Most people in David’s day only visited the temple, but David wanted to live there. He didn’t want to be a guest of God he wanted to be a resident, “all the days of his life.” Guests come and go they don’t dwell. Unfortunately, guest of God seems to describe many disciples today, content just to drop in from time to time instead of dwell. But David didn’t want a revolving door he wanted a deep and intimate relationship where he could sink his roots down. He wanted a regular ongoing relationship not a sporadic one. How unlike Christians today who prefer to just come and go as they please, their desire is not to dwell, they are not looking for a relationship they are looking for results. Instead of seeking the Father they are seeking a formula, instead of seeking the Author they are looking for an answer. They are looking for a quick fix for their fears instead of looking to the Father. When we come to God only to seek a solution, it will result in a rollercoaster relationship, where we spend our lives running to Him when our lives are in ruin and running from Him once they are repaired. But David didn’t just turn to God in the turbulent times, he chose to dwell in the difficult and the delightful ones. Our tendency is to turn to God only in times of turmoil, to pursue His presence only in the problems. Yet part of the reason we have the problems that we do is that we have wonder away from His presence. Are you going to stray or stay? Are you going to be a temporary guest or a permanent resident? David didn’t just focus on God on the weekends but throughout the week. Are you going to seek Him sporadic or continually draw close? Not only did David live in God’s presence but he looked at God’s perfection. Verse four tells us that he “delighted in the Lord’s perfections.” As he focused on God’s attributes his fears were relieved. When was the last time you focused on God’s faithfulness, or concentrated on His care and compassion?  When was the last time you pondered His power and provision, or saw His sovereignty over your situation? When was the last time you looked at and lingered in His love, or beheld His holiness? If we don’t dwell with Him we will miss the might and the majesty of our God. What about you are you choosing to live with Him, are you residing or running in and out?