OF DAVID.
1The 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?
2When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
3Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.
4One 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.
5For 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.
6Then 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.
7Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, I will seek.
9Do 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.
10Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.
11Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.
13I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Original Meaning
PSALM 27 IS in the final analysis a psalm of confidence (cf. 27:3d, 13a), although at its core it remains a desperate plea for divine presence in the midst of attack. The psalm is bracketed by declarations of confident trust (27:1–3, 13–14), which surround a central search for divine presence and deliverance (27:4–6, 7–12). In its concluding exhortation to “wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (27:14), the psalmist enjoins the reader to the same pattern of faithful endurance that he models in the body of the psalm: In the face of suffering and attack, the faithful continue to trust in Yahweh rather than their own devices.
The contrast between absolute confidence and desperate pleading is characteristic of many of the laments or pleas for deliverance in the Psalter and must have resonated strongly with the situation of the postexilic community, who treasured, preserved, and transmitted these psalms to subsequent generations. The central part of Psalm 27 shares the thematic interest in “dwelling in the house of the LORD” that characterizes the whole group of Psalms 23–30.1 Structurally the psalm exhibits four sections: confidence in Yahweh against the enemy (27:1–3), the desire to dwell in the house of Yahweh (27:4–6), plea for deliverance from enemies (27:7–12), and confidence and encouragement (27:13–14).
PSALM 27 IS the third consecutive psalm to be attributed simply to David.2 There are no new terms introduced in the heading.
Confidence in Yahweh (27:1–3)
YAHWEH IS DESCRIBED as the psalmist’s “light,” “salvation,”3 and “stronghold of . . . life.”4 In the affirming parallelism of verse 1, the first two phrases (“my light and my salvation”) are paralleled by the expanded phrase “stronghold of my life,” suggesting that these three terms provide nuances to the psalmist’s understanding of Yahweh’s protective role. Yahweh is the illuminating light that vanquishes the “[deep] shadow of death” (23:4) threatening the psalmist. That light marks out the “paths of righteousness” (cf. 23:3; 25:4, 9), along which God leads the faithful. Yahweh is also the life-saving stronghold that delivers the psalmist from the attacks of his enemies. Because of that guidance and protection, he is unafraid (27:1:b, d; cf. 23:4).5
The protective presence and care of Yahweh encourages the psalmist to stand confidently firm in the face of enemy attack (27:2–3). His enemies are depicted as ravening beasts seeking to “devour my flesh” (27:2), as an enemy military encampment (27:3a), and as declaring an all-out war (27:3c). In spite of the severity of the attack, the psalmist remains confident and unafraid, certain that the enemy attack will “stumble and fall” (27:2d).6 The NIV’s translation of boṭeaḥ as “I am confident” rather than the more usual “I am trusting” obscures the connection between this phrase and similar uses of the verb bṭḥ (“trust”) in 25:2 and 26:1. The participial form used here emphasizes the immediate and continuing trust the psalmist is placing in Yahweh.
Desire to Dwell in the House of Yahweh (27:4–6)
I SEEK . . . that I may dwell in the house of the LORD. The psalmist’s deepest desires are to “seek” Yahweh and to “dwell” in his presence forever. The connections with the preceding group of psalms are obvious. Seeking Yahweh’s face (27:4, 8) was the primary characteristic of the generation to be admitted to the holy hill of Yahweh in 24:6.
The idea of “seeking” Yahweh described here through the two parallel verbs šʾl (“ask”) and bqš (“seek”)7 may have a more technical and ritual flavor than is immediately apparent. To ask of Yahweh and to seek his face can imply formal, ritual actions of seeking divine guidance within the context of worship.8 To seek God in this way is not a matter of unfocused searching but a sign of commitment to the way of life he demands and provides. To “seek” false gods (as in 4:2) is to commit oneself to them. The faithful generation is made up of those who seek the face of Yahweh and commit themselves to him alone.
To gaze upon the beauty of the LORD. The psalmist is almost obsessed with Yahweh and wants always to be in his presence. Ancient monarchs were known on occasion to grant extravagant requests to their subjects. King Xerxes was so taken by Queen Esther that he invited her to ask what she wanted “even up to half the kingdom,” and it would be given to her (Est. 5:3, 6). If asked such a question by Yahweh, the king, our psalmist has a ready reply: He wants to “dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life” (27:4). The psalmist desires to see firsthand the gracious kindness9 of Yahweh, the host.
Dwelling in the house of Yahweh is not just an experience of aesthetic delight in the gracious hospitality of God. There is a protective benefit to the nearness of God. As the psalmist puts it, “He will keep me safe10 . . . he will hide me11 . . . in his dwelling12 . . . his tabernacle.” Even at the moment of greatest nearness to God there is a continuing awareness of the threat that life in the psalmist’s world offers.
High upon a rock. Shifting metaphors, the psalmist describes Yahweh’s protection in new terms: “[He will] set me high upon a rock.” The Hebrew ṣur (“rock”) more frequently refers to large boulders. God is frequently considered the psalmist’s “rock” and as such provides firm footing and protective covering.13 Being “set high” (from rwm) on a rock prepares the way for the image of the exaltation (also from rwm) of the psalmist’s head above the enemies in 27:6. To be protected by Yahweh in the presence of the enemy (cf. 23:5) is to be exalted by association.
Will I sacrifice . . . I will sing. Protection and exaltation lead to praise. Freed from fear of the enemy by the presence of Yahweh, the psalmist is free to sing praises and to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving to God.
Plea for Deliverance from Enemies (27:7–12)
A SHIFT TO second-person direct address of Yahweh signals the beginning of the next section of the psalm. The appearance of a string of imperative and negative jussive forms characterizes the psalmist’s plea for deliverance laid before Yahweh.
Hear my voice. As in most pleas for deliverance, the section begins with the psalmist’s entreaty to be heard (“Hear . . . O LORD”). This cry underscores the reality of his suffering in spite of a strong confidence in Yahweh’s saving nature. One does not cry out for relief when Yahweh is currently delivering or has already delivered.14 The rest of the plea is divided into a desire for divine presence in the face of God’s seeming absence (27:8–10), a desire for divine instruction in the right way (27:11), and a desire for divine vindication in the face of “false witnesses” (27:12).
Seek his face. Despite the textual difficulties in this passage,15 it is clear that the psalmist is here expressing the heartfelt desire to come into the presence of Yahweh. What the heart has communicated as its deepest desire (“Seek his face!”), the psalmist has acted upon (“Your face, LORD, I will [continue to] seek”).16
Do not hide your face from me. The psalmist’s search can only succeed if Yahweh continues to allow himself to be known. In 27:5 the psalmist hoped Yahweh would “hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle,” allowing him to live in God’s protective presence. Now, having gained access to the house of Yahweh, he pleads that the divine host will not absent himself.
Do not . . . forsake me. In two parallel lines the psalmist entreats Yahweh not to turn him away in anger or to reject and abandon him.17 The prospect of divine abandonment is even more difficult because of his past experience of Yahweh as “my helper” (27:9c) and “my Savior” (27:9e). Despite the continued experience of divine absence, the psalmist is confident this is not proof of abandonment but of Yahweh’s remaining a firm hope—even when parents might fall away (27:10).
Teach me your way. Resuming a theme characteristic of this collection of consecutive psalms (Pss. 23–30), the psalmist seeks divine instruction (“teach me”)18 and guidance (“lead me”)19 in the proper “way” (27:11).20 Here the reason for finding the right path is related to the enemy attack that the psalmist is experiencing. The enemies are described as “my oppressors” (27:11), “foes” who desire the psalmist’s defeat (27:12a), and “false witnesses . . . breathing out violence”21 (27:12b–c). This verse makes the original setting of the psalm seem like a case of false accusation in the courts. This gives further definition to the “evil men” of 27:2, who advance like a ravenous horde of locusts to devour the psalmist, and the “enemies” of 27:6 in whose presence he is exalted by the protective presence of Yahweh.
Confidence and Encouragement (27:13–14)
I AM STILL CONFIDENT.22 In this final section the psalmist returns to the confident stance of verses 1–3. He “believes” or “is convinced” that he will see the “goodness of the LORD23 in the land of the living”—a clear reference to an expectation to be delivered in this life.24
Wait for the LORD. The psalmist’s final word is an encouragement to the reader/listener to take heart from his experience and to wait confidently for God’s deliverance in similar circumstances. Verse 14 is bracketed at the beginning and end with the identical phrase “wait for the LORD” (qawweh ʾel yhwh)—the repetition making the emphasis plain. There is a sense of tense, anxious expectation in qawweh—a sort of sitting on the edge of your seat. In between these repeated encouragements stands an exhortation to a confident attitude among those who wait expectantly.
The two verbs “be strong” (ḥzq) and “take heart” (ʾmṣ) are the same used in Joshua to encourage the Israelites as they cross the Jordan River to take the Promised Land.25 The resonances with the conclusion of the Exodus wanderings and the anticipation of entering the Promised Land serve again to connect this psalm with the continuing motif of wandering and pilgrimage characteristic of the whole group of Psalms 23–30.
Bridging Contexts
A NEW EXODUS. The Exodus theme is prominent in a number of psalms, especially in the fourth book of the Psalter (Pss. 90–106). Here in Psalm 27, a subtle reference to the dwelling of Yahweh as sukkah (“booth, temporary dwelling”) and ʾohel (“tent”)26 suggests a connection with the desert wandering of the post-Sinai Israelites. In the exilic and postexilic periods, the Diaspora community, drawing on the prophets, understood their captivity as akin to the period of bondage in Egypt. In Isaiah 48:10, the prophet refers to the testing of Israel by exile as a “furnace” of affliction—an image commonly used to refer to Egyptian bondage.27 The desert wandering on the way from Egypt to Canaan is used as an image of the return from exile in Isaiah 43:16–21.
This connection of two periods of bondage outside the Promised Land—Exodus and Exile—is intended as a message of hope. As God was not prevented by the power of Egypt from calling his people to himself and providing them with a secure future, so the exiles could trust that God’s power was sufficient to recall and reestablish them from exile.28
Seeking Yahweh’s face. The psalmist vows to seek Yahweh’s face (27:8) in terms that describe a wholehearted commitment to God, usually in a time of great difficulty. David, confronted by a three-year-long famine devastating the land, “sought the face of the LORD” in order to avert the famine and the sure destruction it threatened (2 Sam. 21:1). Hosea 5:15 explains that the destruction of Israel and Judah at the hands of Assyria was intended to convince them of their guilt so that “they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me.”
The phrase “to seek God” is often used for a technical “inquiry” of the deity to determine the appropriate response in one’s present circumstances. The Hebrew word ordinarily used for “seek” in such cases (drš, “inquire about; seek information about”) is not the one used in our text. Rather, our text has the Hebrew verb bqš, which means “request, ask for.” This verb can also mean “entreat, plead for,” as in the book of Esther when Haman “pleads for his life” after his plot against the Jews was revealed to King Xerxes (Est. 7:7; cf. also 5:6, noted above, where the word “request” is the nominal form baqqaša of the same root bqš and is paralleled by the noun šaʾelah [“petition”]). In Psalm 27:4 these same two roots express the psalmist’s desire to dwell in Yahweh’s house: “One thing I ask [šʾl] of the LORD, this is what I seek [bqš].”
The implication of 27:8 is that the psalmist is not making an inquiry of Yahweh but is earnestly pleading for the “face” of Yahweh itself—his very presence. What he desires more than anything, requests, and pleads is for Yahweh to be present with him. Thus, the next verse continues: “Do not hide your face from me” (27:9). In this light, when David “seeks the face of the LORD” because of the famine, he is not seeking understanding but the reassuring presence of God, who has not abandoned him even in the midst of suffering. Similarly, God through Hosea wants his people to realize their sin through the punishment of exile and to seek, plead for, and desire more than anything the presence of God among them.
Contemporary Significance
THE STRONGHOLD OF my life. How do we find a rock solid place of confidence when all else is swirling about us? It is this ability to stand confidently that sets the faithful apart and gives testimony to the presence of God in our lives. Where or to whom do you go when life seems too much to handle? Perhaps to your spouse or a close friend, a trusted minister, your parents? For the psalmist, God is the stronghold of his life—the secure place when all else fails.
Too often human relationships fail—because they are human. Many of us have felt betrayed or abandoned by friends, spouses, and even parents. The statistics are not good. Divorce is on the increase even among “born-again Christians.”29 Prominent news reports have detailed instances of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children by religious leaders and Christian parents. When we place our hopes and reliance on fallible human beings, we are bound to experience failure. When all our human resources are so unreliable, where do we turn for unshakable support?
According to our psalmist, Yahweh is the one reliable support—the one who accepts us even “though my father and mother forsake me” (27:10). There is no more crushing experience than for a child to be abandoned by his or her parents. Orphan children—even those adopted by loving and caring families—are often obsessed to know why their birth mother “abandoned” them. Were they so unlovable, unwanted, that even their mother gave them away? The recent legislation to open adoption records to such adult orphans, even against the wishes of the birth parents, illustrates the obsessive power such questions hold. But God is ultimately the only reliable source of care and acceptance. Many abandoned children who have been unable to answer the questions of their birth and loss of parental love have found in God a loving parent who does not forsake them.
Besides being our secure refuge, God is also “light.” Light illumines the darkness. We know scientifically that darkness is the absence of light. Where light is, darkness cannot exist. We use flashlights only when it is dark and we need to find our way or know what is around us. We don’t have “flashdarks” that dispel light!
As a child I remember a powerful fear of the dark. We lived in a country setting, and at night there were no streetlights to dilute the absolute blackness. On occasion I would be sent at night on an errand to our barn—maybe fifty yards from the house. I remember running as fast as I could between house and barn to spend as little time as possible in the dark.
Two Sunday comic strips have done an especially good job of exploiting childhood fears of the dark. In one, my favorite, Calvin and Hobbes, the main characters, a small boy and his stuffed tiger, often find themselves marooned on the boy’s bed while “monsters” whisper in the dark under the bed, hatching plans to get them. In the other, Bloom County, one of the children has a closet where all his anxieties live in the dark, threatening on occasion to break out in monstrous form to consume him.
Like our fears, these monsters and anxieties thrive in the dark, but they cannot survive in the light. Like a flashlight pointed at a persistent noise, light shows up our fears for what they really are. Imaginary monsters and inflated anxieties are reduced to reality. God, then, is for the psalmist (and for us) the light that illumines our way and reveals our fears and enemies for what they truly are in the light of God’s power and care. This is not to say that all our fears are groundless or figments of our imaginations. The psalmist’s enemies are very real. But God provides refuge in the face of real attacks and struggles.
Waiting for God. One of the most difficult aspects of faithful Christian living for me has been waiting for God. Too often I am impatient and want God to act now, on my schedule. Most often that is not how it happens. Waiting takes strength and demonstrates trust, courage, and endurance. Andrew Murray’s collection of thirty-one daily meditations on the theme of waiting on God was particularly helpful to me in a time of personal difficulty. I have returned to this classic treatment many times. In response to this passage from Psalm 27:14, Murray writes:
“Be strong and of good courage [NIV take heart].” These words are frequently found in connection with some great and difficult enterprise, in prospect of the combat with the power of strong enemies, and the utter insufficiency of all human strength. Is waiting on God a work so difficult, that such words are needed . . . ? Yes, indeed. The deliverance for which we often have to wait is from enemies, in whose presence we are so weak. The blessings for which we plead are spiritual and all unseen—things impossible with men—heavenly, supernatural, divine realities. Our heart may well faint and fail.30
The words “be strong and take heart” are words of challenge and encouragement to soldiers just before engaging in battle. This is how Moses and God exhorted Joshua before leading Israel into battle (Deut. 31:7, 23; Josh. 1:6, 7, 9, 18). In the same manner Joshua encouraged Israel before they faced the enemy (Josh. 10:25). David used these words when strengthening Solomon to assume the leadership of the kingdom (1 Chron. 22:13; 28:20), and so king Hezekiah exhorted his military officers when Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem (2 Chron. 32:7). These are words of preparation for action. Too often we find action preferable to waiting! Like Saul, we would rather take matters into our own hands and face the enemy boldly in our own strength rather than wait for God (1 Sam. 13:1–15).
Waiting on God is hard work. Yet, it is one way—perhaps the only way—of demonstrating God’s strength manifest in our weakness. Whenever we rush frantically about trying to “do it” on our own, we in effect become “functional atheists,” denying by our actions that God is active in our lives. Often to admit that we are powerless is the first step toward acknowledging God’s strength unleashed in our lives. The well-known serenity prayer is one expression of this need to rely on God: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Acceptance is not resignation or despair but a step of trust and commitment. It means acknowledging my need to rely on God alone. It is an expression of the confidence that the psalmist of Psalm 27 mirrors in 27:13: “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” He says this in the presence of enemies, even though God is not immediately apparent (27:7–9).
Sometimes this kind of confidence requires a different way of seeing. C. S. Lewis tells of his experience standing in a dark potter’s shed on a sunny day. Through a chink in the wall a sunbeam probed its way into the dark interior of the shed. Lewis suggests it is two quite different things to look at the beam of light and how it interacts with the dark, illuminating only a small part of the shed, or to step into the light and look along the beam to its source.31 Waiting for God is like standing in the dark but looking along the beam of light that comes from God. Knowing the source of light gives us confidence that outside the darkened sheds that describe our lives, light bathes the whole landscape. Light will not be overcome by the dark but will vanquish it. It is that kind of vision of God that gives us the courage to wait in confidence.