Confidence

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? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.

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. 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. 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.

Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek. 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.

Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD (Psalm 27).

Psalm 27 is a prayer about confidence. It is constructed like a typical prayer of the church: first, God is given glory for being the source of our confidence; then, God’s help is requested for unwavering confidence in the face of earthly struggles; finally, the prayer concludes with a reaffirmation of faith in God’s care for us. Since we live in a world that constantly tries to erode our confidence with fear, let us take some time to find refreshment in the words of David’s uplifting Psalm.

Verses 1 through 6 speak of the confidence that can be ours by living in God’s presence. Verse 1 gives us four reasons why we, as Christians, can be confident: The LORD is my light and my salvation…The LORD is the stronghold of my life.

The first reason that we can be confident is because of who our Lord is. Translated literally, this verse reads: Yahweh is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? "Yahweh" is the personal name of God; it is the name by which He identified Himself to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. When God established covenants with His people, promises that He would take care of them if they remained faithful to Him, God used His personal name Yahweh to make the pledge binding. Yahweh is our covenant God, the God who commits Himself to the welfare of those who love Him. When our covenant God promises to take care of me, whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid?

Our second reason for confidence is that the LORD is [our] light. Scripture frequently uses the term ‘darkness’ to refer to sin and ignorance of holy things. Such darkness can only be dispelled by the light of God’s truth, revealed to us through His Son Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John chapter 12, Jesus says: I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. Our covenant God is our source of light, the One who we can look to for the pure light of truth in a world filled with confusing shades of gray. In His light, no enemy can pretend to be our friend by hiding under a shadowy cloak of half-truths and lies.

Our third reason for confidence is that the LORD is our salvation. We entered life already dying—dying from the cancer of sin gnawing at our souls. We were conceived in sin, born with no appreciation for anything that is good or right or sacred. In our darkened way of seeing things, God seemed to be an enemy, someone trying to force us to behave responsibly, someone who only wanted to spoil our fun. Our every inclination was to follow Satan, unaware that his path only led, in the end, to hell. But our loving God sent His Son to save us from such an awful end; Peter tells us, Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:18). In Hebrews 5:8 we read, although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once he brought things to completion, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. We draw confidence from knowing that our covenant God will forgive any and all of our sins for the sake of His resurrected Son.

Our fourth reason for confidence is that the LORD is the stronghold of [our lives]. On our own, we are too weak to resist being pulled down by temptation into evil’s grasp. We need a sanctuary, a place where we can find rest from our struggles with sin and be refreshed with new strength to continue the fight. That place of refuge is our covenant God, our stronghold in a world that seeks to destroy our souls. It is this wonderful promise of security that moved Martin Luther to write, "A Mighty Fortress is our God."

Verses two and three speak of the sorts of things that may worry other people, but which hold no terror for those sheltered in God’s arms. When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh is a word picture for back-biting, slanderous talk; a similar thought is expressed in Galatians chapter 5: If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. But David does not fear malicious gossip any more than he fears physical assault. Instead, he states confidently that God will protect him; how else to account for his enemies suddenly stumbling and falling, even though David has no visible defender? David does not need to see God to recognize the works of His mighty hands.

Verse 4 shows us where David’s heart desired to be. David was a king; he had all the pleasures and distractions that power, fame and money can provide. But David’s heart did not seek the glory of leading soldiers into victory. David’s heart did not find contentment in the arms of beautiful women or the luxuries of a royal palace. David’s heart was dominated by one desire-- 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. David was envious of the priests who could devote every waking moment to the service of their God. David wished with all his heart for more time to spend in God’s house. Not because the Tent of Meeting was sweetly scented with fine incense. Not because the Tent of Meeting was beautifully made by the finest craftsmen Moses had at his disposal. Not because the air was filled with the beauty of the sacred music that David loved so much.

No, the reasons that David wanted to be in the Tent of Meeting were two: first, he wanted to be in the presence of His God, the God who is known for His mercy and generosity to sinful people who deserve neither mercy nor generosity. Children are comforted just by resting in the arms of a loving parent; David found even greater comfort from simply being in the tent where God had promised to meet with His covenant people.

The other reason that David longed to be in God’s sanctuary was so that he could seek Him. The Hebrew word used here means to investigate, to meditate on; what David wanted was to be a life-long student, learning of the ways of God at the LORD’s own feet, much as Mary knelt to learn at Jesus’ feet when He came to visit her and her sister Martha. It was a similar devotion to the Lord that led the disciples to abandon their previous careers in order to follow Christ full-time. When you meet someone who earns your love and respect, you want to get to know that person better; and so David desired with all his heart to be a full-time student of the LORD--every hour in God’s house was precious to him.

Verse 5 explains the benefits that come from having confidence in the LORD. When troubles come—as they always do—those belonging to God will be able to go to Him for protection. In David’s time, that shelter was represented by the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting. In our day, the Tent of Meeting has been replaced by the churches of Christ, the places where we go to meet with Him who saves us. It is in the LORD’s house that we find encouragement in the face of despair, new strength through Word and Sacrament when we are weak.

In verse 6, David tells us what we ought to do when we find sanctuary in God’s place of meeting: at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD. First he speaks of sacrifice; a sacrifice is a gift that it hurts to give. Everyone knows that the best gifts are those that could only be given because we made a sacrifice, gave up something that we wanted so that we had the time or resources to come up with the best gift we could possibly give. That’s the kind of giving to God that David speaks of—giving so much to God that it results in a sacrifice for us. Yet, notice the attitude in David’s heart—even though giving sacrificially results in inconvenience or deprivation for us, he gave with shouts of joy—David was so grateful for God’s undeserved love and mercy that he wanted to thank God with lavish offerings. Just as a parent willingly sacrifices time and money out of love for the children, so David shows us that our love for God should lead us to give to Him both sacrificially and joyously.

The other thing that David did, that we should imitate, was to sing and make music to the LORD. One of the reasons David went to God’s meeting place was to give Him glory and honor and thanks for all His acts of goodness. Going to the LORD’s house should be a time of eager devotion, a chance to let everyone know how good God has been to us. You tell your friends when your family has grown by marriage or birth; you share the good news of a new job or a new house. How much more important is it, then, to speak of the many ways in which God has blessed your life? It is when you praise God in the presence of others that you show Him the honor He is due.

In verses 7 through 12, David pours out his need to God; in spite of all the reasons he has to be confident, there are problems that are still wearing him down. Even the most faithful of believers experience doubt, periods of time when troubles lead them to wonder if God is far away. At such times, the believer’s heart feels divided; he cries out to God like the man speaking to Jesus in Mark chapter 9: "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" And so David, confident as he is in God’s mercy, still cries out: do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior! In life, our faith is never as strong as it should be, all the time. And so it is necessary to seek the LORD in His temple, that our confidence may be built up once more.

But David is not a victim of despair. He knows that God will listen to His plea for help, because God said I will listen, for I am compassionate (Exodus 22:27). He recalls that God has seen him through hard times before, and is thus assured that He will do so again. He realizes that the depth and commitment of God’s love is far beyond any human’s capacity to care, even that of a devoted mother or father. Through baptism in Jesus, God adopts us as His children—He becomes the parent who will never leave us, never fail us. He is the Father who will always take us in.

In the concluding two verses, David reaffirms his confidence in the LORD and speaks of the importance of patience. He realizes that God does bring relief from troubles, but sometimes one has to wait for a while. In Isaiah chapter 55 God warns us, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. We are always in a hurry—we want everything now. We don’t want to wait until marriage to experience sex. We don’t want to wait in a hospital to recover from sickness or injury. We don’t want to wait 20 minutes for dinner to cook. We don’t want to wait for anything. But God does not share our impatience. God takes the long view—the eternal view. Everything He does is timed to bring us closer to Him in life, so that we might stay close to Him eternally. Sometimes this requires that we wait—wait patiently.

Being patient does not come naturally to us, but if we are confident that the LORD will keep His promises, patience is possible. It is because David has confidence in his covenant God that he can share these closing words of advice with us: Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. May the LORD give you such confidence as He gave to His servant David.