Psalm 27 was written against a background of trouble, danger and many enemies. David is probably responding to either his flight from Saul or his flight from his son Absalom. It was truly a nerve wracking and threatening time.

For those who have lived life in relative safety and comfort and who have not known harrowing experiences where your life or family or livelihood were in jeopardy, this Psalm may not mean much at first reading. But if you have gone through or are now yourself working through some such experience, it will be easier for you to identify with and appreciate this Psalm. Whatever your situation, try to at least picture yourself in some such dire circumstance as David describes - for to everyone eventually there comes some such time of trouble.

In the midst of his distress, David begins, not with some request from God, but with an affirmation of his faith and confidence in God.

1
Here is one of the most impressive statements in the Old Testament affirming the security, and from that, the courage of God’s people. Twice he speaks of fear. He is in some kind of fearful circumstance, some kind of situation that might understandably provoke fear. Ever been in your life where you were inclined to be really afraid - for your job, for your financial security, for your health, for your safety, for your freedom, for your life... It’s no fun being afraid. Fear is one of the most debilitating and miserable emotions.

David met his fears head on and defied them. "Who and what is going to make me afraid?" I would like to know his secret. I would like to be able to find courage and overcome my fears. How did he do it?

Faith. He chose to believe in Jehovah God, that God was his light - to guide him, that God was his salvation - to deliver him, that God was his stronghold - to protect him. David reasoned that if Jehovah God is his light, his salvation, and his stronghold, whom should he fear and of whom should he be afraid? In this way, David met his fears head on and defied them with the question...

2-3
What sort of fearful circumstances was David facing? Certain people were against him, opposed to him, in an adversarial relationship to him. They were after him, out to take away his land, his kingdom and even his life.

Armies were threatening him. War was on the immediate horizon.

Ever been there? We are there! After the terrorist attack, fear became epidemic. Panic set in. In the face of such times, Christians need to display more of David’s attitude, a definite decision to exercise confidence in God and not be afraid! "...my heart will not fear... even then will I be confident."

"When beseiged, I’m calm as a baby: when all hell breaks loose, I’m collected and cool." (Peterson’s The Message)

Many Christians, surrounded by foes, have drawn strength from these words. One such Christian was James Hannington, a Christian missionary to Africa who in October 1885 was seized and imprisoned. Consumed with fever, at time delirious with pain, devoured by vermin, menaced every moment with the prospect of death, he found strength in the Psalms. On October 28, the day before he died a martyr’s death, he wrote in his journal: "I am quite broken down and brought low. Comforted by Psalm 27." (as quoted by John Stott in Favorite Psalms, p. 38)

In the face of threatening people and threatening times, David wants and pursues one thing over all...

4
Fill in the blank... "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek...______."

What one thing would you ask of God this morning? Would your request and your desire be the same as David’s? Only the priests could live in the temple and David was not of the priestly tribe, so he is probably just speaking figuratively of his longing to live in God’s presence and in unbroken fellowship with him, to worship and gaze (meditate) on God’s (moral) beauty. Why is this his primary desire and request?

5
He wants to stay close to God and immediately in his presence because "in the day of trouble, he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle..."

"That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, the perfect getaway far from the buzz of traffic." (Peterson’s The Message)

6
David is sure that God will give him something to cheer about, something to sing about, even in circumstances that might otherwise make him a nervous wreck.

"Already, I’m singing God-songs, I’m making music to God." (Peterson...)

Those are the kind of songs we ought to be singing, the kind of music we ought to be making.

Suddenly, everything is different. David moves from a statement of confidence in God to an urgent and anxious prayer.

7
It is not as though David’s confidence rests in his own moral perfection or performance. No, he is praying for God’s mercy! He has been asking (expecting) God to guide, save and protect him, not on the basis of the goodness of his own moral behavior which he knows has fallen short of the glory of God. No, his hope lies in God’s mercy - which gives me hope that God might be willing to keep me safe in the day of trouble, in spite of my sin and not because I have been so utterly pure and holy.

8-9
The very worst thing that could happen in his time of trouble, David believes, would be for God to hide his face. Again, David seems to recognize that his sins are such that they deserve God’s anger, that he deserves to be rejected and forsaken.

Nevertheless, he believes God is of a mind and heart as to be willing to listen to him anyway. Which again gives me great hope. When I look at my own behavior, I often feel quite unworthy of God’s help, salvation and deliverance. I, too, deserve to be rejected and forsaken. Sometimes, I feel like I don’t have a right to ask God for anything, much less expect his special guidance or salvation.

It is then that I should remember David. I, too, can call on God for mercy, I can ask him to not hide his face from me - even though that is what I might deserve, I can ask God for help and petition him to not reject or forsake me! And in spite of my shortcomings, with David I can say with confidence...

10
And I can petition God to...

11-12
David concludes with a most marvelous affirmation of his confidence in God in depressing and fearful circumstances.

13
In the midst of the most depressing and fearful of circumstances, David expresses faith, absolute confidence that God would work something good out of it all, he would see better days ahead, he would see the Lord’s goodness displayed in his life before he died.

And he is so sure of this that he admonishes us to have this same confidence in those times when we are inclined to be afraid, when it is hard for us to see anything good, when the bad appears to outweigh the good and get us down. Here is what he calls on us to do.

14
"I’m sure I’ll see God’s goodness... Stay with God! Take heart! Don’t quit. I’ll say it again: Stay with God." (Peterson...)

Wait for the Lord. Be patient. Believe that he will send better days ahead. Be confident that you will see the goodness of the Lord demonstrated in the future. I like it - mainly because I so much need it. Can you identify with David?

Faith is the key to victory over our fears and depression in difficult, dangerous and trying times. "I would have fainted, unless I had believed." (KJV of 27:13)

"You of little faith. Why are you so afraid?" (Mtt. 8:26)
"Don’t be afraid. Just believe." (Mk. 5:36)
"Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27