|
Psalm 27 reads as follows from the NIV version of the Bible: 1 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? 2 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, [a] when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. 4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. 6 Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD. 7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. 8 My heart says of you, "Seek his [b] face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. 10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. 12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. 13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. This psalm brings forth the desire to be close to the Lord and through his goodness find the ways to the straight paths. Lighting these paths all the way through. all possible detours to the final salvation. As trouble mounts, there can be a sense of abandonment out there. Symbolic of this would be even being abandoned by family members which would seem to be the last straw and this psalm depicts even that happened as a possibility. There can be an overall sense of abandonment and the psalmist David would say that it is not impossible that even his mother and father could forsake him, that although the road to the Lord is found and followed, his mother and father may not stay with him on this road. In the movie it’s a Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart meets his mother and she doesn’t even know who he is. People can get ditched to the maximum and it can be by employers, careers, within relationships and circumstances gone wrong, It would be preferred that these things would not happen, that friends would stay by, that relationships would be smooth, but troubles could come and the paths that follow the light of the Lord may not always include your best friends and relatives. The psalmist David is presenting a singular approach to the relationship with the Lord in this psalm in which he describes the Lord as his stronghold, his helper, his teacher, his leader, the one who keeps him safe in his journeys, the one who protects him, and the one who sets him high upon not shaky ground but upon a rock. Essentially the Lord is everything to him. His inner being or his heart is telling him to seek the face of the Lord and he is listening to the voice of his heart, the inner promptings that lead him. When he speaks of gazing on the Lord in the temple, this would represent stillness or an exhilarating rest of the soul in the Lord’s presence that is mentioned in psalm 23 where it says, “He leads me by still waters.” As in psalm 23, David in this psalm speaks of the goodness of the Lord in the present times of his life. Goodness that he can readily identify as coming from the hand of the Lord towards him. As he gazes on the Lord he believes that the Lord sees him and receives the gaze. Despite tumultuous circumstances facing David, the direct relationship with the Lord is the place of beauty for him that he is describing in this psalm. The presence of the Lord is a felt place of beauty for him. What he has received from the Lord is light leading to ultimate salvation for him and the Lord’s immeasurable goodness for him which he can see for himself. He would rather not have the surrounding troubles he does have, and he speaks of the Lord as his stronghold in initial verse of the psalm. Everything he seeks is designed around the stronghold of the Lord, upon which his reliance is total; there is really nothing else that confers as a true stronghold for him. The final verse says, “Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord.” This verse is thematic in other parts of the Bible, that we can meet the Lord in strength, that there is the call to be strong in the Lord, and even while it is true that difficult circumstances tend to weaken ones resolve, it is an act of strength and courage to pray, pray is something that is done according to this psalm out of strength and even power. To wait in strength is also to wait in power. So it is not like there is a power outage as we wait on the Lord, we wait up him in the strength and power that is already there and it will be more of a question as to how these powers and strengths manifests in its designs, but the power and strength are already there in the waiting. In Jeremiah Chapter 12 verse 5 says,” 5 "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by] the Jordan? “ There is the call to keep up some strength and endurance. From these verses in Jeremiah we are called to manage a prayer life with to a degree a stamp of speed, as if we are in a race of sorts as the horse’s race and we are called to wait and be strong in the thickets, as well as the safe country. There really isn’t a call to stumble but to stand up and stay afloat in the presence of the Lord as we seek him in prayer. Also, as David does here, there is an acknowledgment to the Lord being the stronghold of his very life. And this would come into the practical matter of for example prayers for healing, where you are asking in healing that the Lord would be the stronghold of health for you and of a specific or general healing for you. The healing you are asking for is based on the Lord being the stronghold of health for you, and any put together healing for you. The Lord is building with the healing a strong house or temple of healing. It is not a flimsy healing that isn’t strong enough. It is also the Lord’s strength that guides you teaches you and helps you and it is important to mention the Lord’s strength or stronghold in your specific prayer requests not only for healing, but also for strong guidance, strong teachings, strong help, and strong light for your ways. No matter what you are requesting in prayer, ask that the Lord strengthen the specifics involved. Even say someone who has a great job in a great situation, that great situation still sums up as nothing is guaranteed and it must be the stronghold of the Lord to keep things going and that is the only real source that gives maintenance to the situation. Psalm 65 verse 6 says from the NIV translation of the Bible,” who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength;” Psalm 68 verse 28 says, “Summon your power, God [j]; show us your strength, our God, as you have done before.” Both the verses bring strength and power together in what they are saying. The Lord leads through his paths strongly. He lifted the mighty waters of the Red Sea in creating a path to safety. Against the sense of abandonment and loss that is out there and that David did brush up against to the point where at times he was overwhelmed with his sea of troubles, as it was for David then, in this day there is the light of the Lord and the stronghold on his answers for you. And there is also the call to wait with strength in that strength even as the Lord designs will be revealed going forward.
Related Articles -
hope, guidance, answers, paths, light, salvation, plans, goodness,
|
