"Of David.
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 evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
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 inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!"
Psalm 27
The second lesson of the Psalm is this: the Psalmist takes the radiance of the first
experience (1-6) into the clouds and darkness of the second, and it acts as a light to him
(cf 13 - the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness could not put it out!). The
background of the Psalm would be especially useful here but we are not sure of the pe-
riod in David's life to which it belongs. The LXX entitles the Psalm 'A Psalm of David be-
fore he was anointed', and this may indicate the period when David was beset by the
frenzied jealousy of king Saul who was so determined to kill him. It was, then, in some
such situation that the Lord gave His servant a season of refreshing, drawing specially
near to him and enlarging his heart by His grace. This is the explanation of the radiant
bouyancy in 1-6: the heavens have been opened and David is rejoicing in the blessing
of the living God, seeing the situation from the divine point of view and in its proper
perspective. It is the same kind of experience that came to the apostle John on the isle of
Pathos, when he had the vision of the Lord in glory and majesty. The vision glorious was
therefore given to brace David for the battle, to sustain and strengthen him and under-
gird his faith so that it would not falter. Another Psalm (36:9) says 'In Thy light shall we
see light'. This is a simple truth of experience: we see everything with the greatest clarity,
and are able to think straight and rationally in time of crisis - a profoundly desirable abil-
ity at such a time, and something we are unable to do when we are engrossed and pre-
occupied with our troubles. Maclaren suggests that David is thinking of his past victory
over Goliath, and this enables him, in effect, to say 'What God did once, He can do
again'. In such a spirit, the confidence expressed in 3 is readily understandable.