My favourite Psalm-27

Psalm 27 by Jean Esslemont

An Exuberant Declaration of Faith

A Psalm of David NKJV

27 The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me To eat [a] up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident.

4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the [b] beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple. 5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

6 And now my head shall be [c] lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of [d] joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “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 help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the Lord will take care of me.

11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. 12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. 13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.

14 Wait [e] on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!

Footnotes [a] -[e] = 1-5

1. Psalm 27:2 devour

2. Psalm 27:4 delightfulness

3. Psalm 27:6 Lifted up in honour

4. Psalm 27:6 joyous shouts

5. Psalm 27:14 Wait in faith

This Psalm has a habit, when I am finding life difficult, of coming to my notice. I find it has had all-encompassing message over the years. It starts mentioning God, also my need of his light and salvation. This becomes evident as life marches on!

Then the Psalm mentions lots of what we face as Christians - battles, in all aspects of our humanity as God works with us to bring us into Christ's likeness.

It talks regarding battles, which sometimes has to do with relationships as it has been for me.

It is comforting also encouraging when it assures us, we are not alone, it is a two-way relationship.

As we face ourselves during it all we also need to know how to deal with the enemy of our souls - Satan.

We are never alone.

I particularly love the last verse, which is hard to comply with -

WAIT on the Lord, also be of good courage - he will strengthen your heart "out of which come all the issues of life."

That covers so much! Last line of the verse again the command - WAIT I say on the Lord!

While grounded in Australia (due to an ash cloud) a few years ago, with my great niece, I got a bit stressed, then this is the verse (v14) that came to mind.

This verse brought me peace and the Lord worked it all out without any hitches!

A further bonus too was my great-niece, who was still in primary school had the opportunity to sample school in Australia while there.

A great experience for her, and also reassurance for her parents in Scotland.

Father God had it all in hand!

Amen