Psalm 27:1-3

Confidence to Live

In our passage King David, the shepherd and psalmist of Israel, made some strong comments about confidence in the face of danger. Since it’s poetry, we too easily read it as exaggeration but I want to encourage you to reflect more carefully on the facts at hand.

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
Whom should I fear?
The LORD is the defense of my life;
Whom should I dread?

When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.

If an army encamps against me,
My heart will not fear;
If war arises against me,
In spite of this I am confident.
(Psalm 27:1-3)

Consider David’s history. His heart is stirred by the blasphemies of Goliath and he volunteers to stand against him, but King Saul seems unconvinced. So David relates for us how he has killed lions and bears that attacked his father’s sheep. He considers Goliath to be not much more than such a beast. Dangerous, yes. But in line for judgment from God.

His reply to Goliath’s taunt is stirring.

But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a saber, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. (I Samuel 17:45,46)

Beyond this we could reflect on David’s courage and submission to God as he hides from Saul’s attempts to kill him. And later yet, Absalom’s attempt to take the throne of Israel.

The fact is that David demonstrates amazing confidence in God that goes beyond a freedom from anxiety in the midst of his normal routine. He steps out of his routine to do some extraordinary things.

We need to imitate him, which raises the questions: how was David able to do this? What is the source of his confidence?

Most of the answer is expressed in this psalm.

In sum, it is this: David had a firm conviction that he belonged to God and that he was doing exactly what God wanted him to do. The psalm exhibits four activities that bolstered this conviction.

First, David engaged in fervent, daily worship of God. He sought to see and know God and responded with worship. (Psalm 27:4-6)

Second, David prayed for God’s grace, blessing, and attention. He formed a habit of spiritual response. When God called him to worship, David came. (Psalm 27:7-10)

Third, David sought God’s leadership for his life. He asked the Lord to teach him His way, to know what it is, to lead him in it step by step, to keep him safe on that path. (Psalm 27:11,12)

Fourth, David waited for God with patience. God is good, and He is never late. We can ignore the good that God is doing in the world around us, though that leads to discouragement. Through fear, we can try to run away when we really just need to wait for Him. (Psalm 27:13,14)

We will imitate David’s confidence after we imitate David’s worshipful knowledge of God. This will certainly start with an intellectual grasp of the facts of what God is like, but it must proceed from there to a life of routine interactions with this infinite, personal God. Start watching Him carry you through life.

Pursuit of wisdom for today from the Ancient of Days

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