“'Whom Shall I Fear': Hope in God’s Protection (Psalm 27)” | 8/30/2020
Psalm 27| 8/30/20 | Will Duval
This morning, we’re going to continue to work our way through the “Psalms of Hope”. We began in Psalm 13 - hope in LAMENT, in our ability to cry OUT to God in our hurt and know that He hears us and we can still trust in Him. We spent the last two weeks in Psalm 23 - hope in God’s CARE - He is our SHEPHERD, who provides for us, leads us, restores our souls. And this morning, we’re going to turn our attention and our Bibles to Psalm 27, where we’re going to find hope in God’s PROTECTION. That is the big theme of Psalm 27: In times of trouble, we don’t have to fear, because God will protect us. Let me say that again: In times of trouble, we don’t have to fear, because God will protect us. I heard one pastor title this “A Psalm for your CALM”.
Fear is considered by many psychologists to be the most powerful emotion there is. Fear is the strongest motivator of human behavior. We all complain about how we hear nothing but BAD news on TV, social media - do you know why? Because FEAR SELLS. Our local news station pays their bills with clicks and views, and the simple fact is, you and I will NOT keep it on channel 5 to hear the heartwarming story about the couple who just celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary, but if a killer breaks into their house and murders them both in their SLEEP - THAT story we are GLUED to. Why will we see FAR more “negative” than positive campaign ads this election season? Because they WORK! Because the only thing that motivates you to vote more than a politician you really believe in - there’s none of those left anyway - is when you’re convinced America is literally gonna crumble if the OTHER guy is elected!
What’s the most afraid you’ve ever been in your life? When I was in high school, my friends and I used to think it was funny to drive around at night and throw water balloons at passing cars. One night I was in the back of my friend’s truck and I hit a car that immediately slammed on its brakes, pulled a U-turn, and chased us down within a matter of seconds. My friend tried to make an abrupt turn into a subdivision to lose them; instead, he almost lost ME out the back of the truck, and the car stayed right on our bumper. We got to the end of the neighborhood only to realize it’s a dead-end cul-de-sac, and when my buddy went ONE way around the round-about, the car went the OTHER way, cut us off, threw it into park, and two of the largest guys I’ve ever seen hopped out of the car with baseball bats, and started charging us.
And just before I wet my pants and jumped out to run for my life, my buddy THREW it into reverse, through someone’s yard, and sped off, and we eventually lost them.
Now, as best I can tell, King David was not the water-balloon throwing type. In fact, his prayer here in Psalm 27 is that God would PROTECT him from the water-balloon throwers of this world - from “evildoers” who “assail” him. And what he offers us here is really I think God’s blueprint for how to respond to the fears that will inevitably arise for ALL of us throughout our lives. You know, biologists talk about 2 different responses we have in the face of fear: what are they? You remember them? The “F”s: [FIGHT, or FLIGHT. Right?] Sometimes they add FREEZE. We forget about freeze because the animals that freeze don’t stick around too long; that’s called natural selection. But biologists forget about the FOURTH option, the BIBLICAL option. And David’s question, GOD’S question, for you and me this morning is: “In the face of fear, will we choose FIGHT, flight, freeze, or FAITH. David outlines what the 4-fold response of FAITH looks like in the heart of the believer.
Would you stand with me, as you’re able, for the reading of God’s word. Psalm 27:
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold[a] 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[b] 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[c] 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[d] my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”[e]
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[f] 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!
This is the word of the Lord... (LET’S PRAY...)
-
What do we do when troubles and fears surround us?
#1 - We Proclaim God’s Promises (vv1-3). David declares:
The Lord is my light and my salvation… the stronghold[a] of my life;
whom shall I fear?
Now, David KNEW a thing or two about troubles and fears. You think YOU’VE gone through some stuff, in your life? Try being chased all over the desert by a demon-possessed king with an entire ARMY at his disposal! Squaring off against a literal, 9-foot giant. Against lions and bears, as a pre-pubescent teenager. David lost one son in infancy. Then another, Amnon, after he raped his half-sister Tamar, and her brother Absalom found out and killed Amnon. Then Absalom decided he’d just steal the kingdom out from under David while he was at it, and he exiled his own father. And in order for David to be reinstated as king, his son Absalom had to be killed! Don’t think that just because David was a king, he didn’t know about suffering. And as an aside, don’t think that just because the neighbors across the street have a big house, a nice car, and the picture-perfect family up on Instagram, that they don’t know suffering. You don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. You don’t know what kind of PAIN they’re trying to mask. You don’t have to drive a half hour into North county… into East St. Louis… to be missional, to find people with deep NEEDS to be MET. Your neighbors in West county may be just as NEEDY, spiritually, as anywhere else in our city.
David knew suffering. And he’s not just reflecting back on some past time of trial here; he makes that clear in vv6 and following; He says, “And NOW my head shall be lifted up”. NOW! The trouble is PRESENT. It’s CURRENT! He prays in v9: “O you who have been - past tense - my help, Cast me not off - NOW, present tense; forsake me not”.
But David BEGINS, in v1, by proclaiming God’s promises; and reminding himself, in the midst of his present affliction, that he need not fear, because of WHO GOD IS. And who IS God? 3 things; 3 powerful descriptors:
#1 - The Lord is my LIGHT. Listen: Show me the bravest person in this room, and if we put these shades down and cut the lights out and all of a sudden it’s pitch black, and I will BET you that pretty quickly you start FREAKING out. Nothing else has changed. Same 70 of us in the room, mostly Christians, no immediate threat of danger, but your pulse will go through the ROOF. Why? Because we are innately afraid of the dark.
My daughter’s night light went out the other night. You think this is gonna be a story about how terrified SHE was. She was scared, but she kept her cool... until she tried to wake ME up. And I awoke to a tiny, shadowy figure leaning over my bed, whispering in my ear. And moments later, POLLY awoke to me screaming words that a pastor ought never to say. I’m serious - I was about two seconds from punching my 4-year old daughter right in the throat. Fight or flight, right?
On a more serious note, what’s the most common metaphor people who battle depression use to describe how they feel? A cloud of what…? Darkness. The hero, in literature, in the movies, always has to go through and overcome what? The DARK night of the soul. Even last week, in Psalm 23, some translations say, “Even though I walk through the DARKEST valley”, but how did David finish the phrase? “I will fear NO evil,” WHY? “For you are WITH me”! And God is my LIGHT in the darkness.
This is the only passage in the OT where God is called “light”. In the NEW Testament, though, the Apostle John, in his first letter, declares, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). And he goes ON to say, in his GOSPEL account, that “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” in the person of JESUS, the “word made flesh”; and “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . (John 1:5, 9, 14)
Friends, that means that no matter HOW dark your life seems to get - your OWN dark night of the soul, YOUR darkest valleys, YOUR seasons of intense depression, spiritual and emotional turmoil - that even in that darkness, if you have the light of CHRIST shining in your heart, God has promised that the darkness WILL NOT overcome you. His light will NOT be extinguished. It is more powerful than the deepest darkness this world can throw at you. Amen?
Is Christ YOUR light?
#2 - Second promise, of who God IS: The Lord is my SALVATION, still in v1.
Now we need to recognize that the very idea of calling God our salvation implies that we NEED to be SAVED. That we are in harm’s way. David couldn’t call God his “salvation” if he wasn’t being “assailed” by evildoers in v2. If an “army” wasn’t “encamped against” him, v3. Skip ahead to v5; David writes, “he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble”; Matt Chandler notes, “David didn't say, "You don't need a shelter because he'll stop the storm"... No, A storm is coming. You and I shouldn't be surprised when storms come. The Bible never says they're not coming. In fact, the Bible almost goes over the top to say, "They're coming!" What God has promised us is not that he would save us from the storm but that he would protect us in the storm.” Skip Heitzig says similarly: “God hasn’t promised to calm your every storm; but He has promised to calm YOU through the storm.”
God doesn’t promise to calm all of life’s storms, friends…
He doesn’t promise to save your struggling marriage…
He doesn’t promise to save your dying business…
He doesn’t promise to cure your cancer, and heal you and save your LIFE…
So how can God promise here in Psalm 27 to be our “salvation”?
Because in the most IMPORTANT sense of ALL, eternally, spiritually, God has already accomplished your salvation through the atoning death and transforming resurrection of His Son Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and the restoration of your soul.
Listen: David’s “confidence”, in v3, “though war arise against” him, wasn’t in God’s promise that he’d win every battle. David fought in a lot of battles in his life; he won some, and he lost some. No, his CONFIDENCE came from knowing that even if he lost the battle, he had already won the war. Because His God had already promised to stay WITH him even through the valley of the shadow of death, so David knew that whenever his day might come - and Death WILL come for us ALL, eventually; the question is will you be READY on that day? - DAVID knew that His shepherd would lead him through to the other side - He knew, Psalm 49:15, that “God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol; he will receive me.”
That’s why David can say with confidence, “Whom shall I fear?” That’s why the apostle Paul can say, “If God is for us, who can be[i] against us?” (Rom 8:31) The technical answer to that question is: LOTS of people! Like, if you stand for God, I mean, REALLY stand for God, I’m not talking about posting Psalm 23 on your page, cuz everyone loves Psalm 23, but try posting the truth that we ENDED with last week, that “most folks take FALSE comfort in Psalm 23, because Jesus isn’t ACTUALLY their shepherd;” try preaching THAT! Confronting people in their SIN. Try warning people that the vast majority of them are wicked sinners destined for Hell, and you better BELIEVE they will come against you. You’ll make plenty of new “Enemies”, “adversaries”, “foes”.
But David’s point in Psalm 27, Paul’s POINT in Romans 8, isn’t that folks won’t encamp against you, but rather that with GOD on your side, you have nothing to FEAR. Oh, they can still KILL you; make no mistake. They killed Jesus, for 3 days. They killed Peter, Paul, Stephen, Andrew, James… almost ALL the disciples. But JESUS had already warned them: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). You know who he’s talking about, right? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not SATAN. It’s GOD! GOD is the only one with the power to send people to Hell. That makes Him worth fearing, friends. In fact, He’s the ONLY thing in this life worth truly fearing. You wanna talk about FEAR, the theme of the morning; fear the LORD! The Bible commands it, literally hundreds of times; I started counting and I just had to stop - Lev 19:14, “fear your God”; Deut 5:29 “fear me and keep my commands”; Josh 4:24 “fear the LORD your God”; Prov 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”...
GOD is the answer to David’s question: “Whom shall I fear?”, we fear GOD! That’s why when Peter & John were rounded up in Acts 4 for talking about Jesus, and the Sanhedrin told them to stop or they’d KILL them, they replied, “Look, you guys do what you gotta do, but if we’re choosing between disobeying Y’ALL, or disobeying GOD, who has called us to be his witnesses in all the world, we are WAAAY more scared of disobeying God!”
“If God is for us, who can be[i] against us?” Do you live with that kind of confidence, friend? CAN you? Do you have the AUDACITY to say, “I fear NOTHING”, “I’m not AFRAID of the coronavirus; the worst it can do is kill me, physically, and then I get to go home and be with Jesus!” Because the Lord is my salvation.
And subpoint #3 - The third promise we proclaim, still in v1, point #1 in your bulletins; I promise we’ll get through all four!: the Lord is my STRONGHOLD. My “fortress, my tower”; it’s the place you would run in battle when the enemy’s arrows were flying and you were on the defensive. So I’ll just cut straight to the takeaway for us: where do YOU run in times of trouble? When your enemy, Satan, is flinging his fiery darts? Do you reach for the remote? The phone? The checkbook? The bottle? To escape, to self-medicate… to NUMB. Or do we run to the LORD?! To his WORD? Do we RUN to him, in prayer; is prayer your first response, or your last resort? Do we recognize that we really do have an adversary, and he really is far more dangerous, and more POWERFUL, than you or I are, and he prowls around looking for a chance to DEVOUR you, to RUIN you. Darts are flying, left and right. And you are TINY compared to Satan. But SATAN is tiny, compared to GOD.
Is HE your stronghold? Your defense. Your refuge.
Prov 18:10 “The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous run into it and they are safe.”
But here’s the kicker: we saw it with Psalm 23, ‘the Lord is MY shepherd’; He has to be PERSONAL to you. And here again in Psalm 27: he’s MY light, MY salvation, MY stronghold. James Johnston explains (216): “One of the most important words in this [whole chapter] is “my.” It is a small word—two letters in English and one letter in Hebrew—but it makes all the difference. It is not enough to know that the Lord is light—even the demons know this. You must be able to say, “The LORD is my light” (v. 1). It is not enough to know that God is A Savior, A stronghold... He must be your Savior, your stronghold. Many people who attend church know about God, but they do not know God… If Psalm 27 is going to be yours, you must be his.”
So I ask you again this morning, friends: Are you HIS? And is He YOURS? Is the Lord YOUR light? YOUR salvation? YOUR stronghold? He can be. Trust in Jesus today; give your life to him, and watch him FILL it with light, salvation, eternal protection.
And when you HAVE, then when troubles come your way, #2 - You Pursue Intimacy with God (vv4-6). David says:
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[c] in his temple.
Now this seems like a pretty abrupt SHIFT from vv1-3, doesn’t it? David started on the battlefield with this militaristic language of armies and strongholds and enemies and wars, and now all of a sudden he’s standing in God’s temple, gazing… entranced, infatuated with God’s beauty. What’s going on here?
Well, for starters, remember that God’s temple in Jerusalem had not yet been built; David’s son, Solomon, would do that years later. Instead, God tells us in Isa 66:1 that “Heaven is my throne”; Revelation 11:19 “God's temple [is] in heaven”. So when David asks to “dwell in the house of the Lord” here in v4, he’s talking about HEAVEN. When he references hiding in the “cover of God’s tent” in v5, he’s alluding to the Tent of MEETING, where Moses used to meet with God, face to face. David wants to experience the manifest presence of God; true, face-to-face intimacy with His heavenly Father.
He wants it more than ANYTHING; he says in v4: it’s the “One thing I’m asking of the Lord,
that will I seek after”. Remember what Solomon asked for, when God granted him one wish? Wisdom. That’s pretty good. That’s better than a LOT of things Solomon could have asked for. But David’s request here is even better: David wants God HIMSELF. Intimacy with God.
What about you? If God gave YOU one wish? What do YOU want more than anything? You can be honest with yourself this morning; God already knows the secrets of your heart anyway. Do you want… a new job? You want NO job - you want to be able to retire, comfortably? Maybe a vacation? A spouse? A NEW spouse? A child? A lost parent back? Do you want POWER, control, fame, status, influence, recognition, belonging, acceptance, forgiveness, security, comfort, health, wealth, happiness...”
Or do you want the LORD? Closeness, relationship with HIM?
And why does David BEG for it here, in the middle of a psalm about FEAR and PROTECTION?
He says, I’m asking for it, v5: “For - Or THEREFORE, THEN- he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble”. David says, “Yes, I want God for God’s OWN sake; because He IS beautiful, and he is worth being the one pursuit of my heart simply in his OWN right. But David is also WISE enough to know that if you’ve got intimacy with God, then you’ve ALSO got his hand of PROTECTION thrown in as a BONUS! “IF I’m in the house of the Lord, THEN I’ll be safe with Him, hidden on the day of trouble; concealed in his tent, lifted upon the rock, high above my enemies.”
The image that comes to mind is baby Simba, while Mufasa was still alive. Simba was UNTOUCHABLE, right? He didn’t even have to stay in Mufasa’s house; he disobeyed and wandered off to the Elephant Graveyard, but his father loved him SO much, that he chases after him and just before the hyenas have Simba for lunch, what happens? Simba tries to defend himself at first, right? “Rrrr” His little baby roar; his cute little kitty “purr”. And the hyenas LAUGH at him. Friends, that’s you and I trying to defend OURSELVES, in our OWN strength, against Satan. He’s a 400-lb. prowling lion, he’s Scar, he will eat you for LUNCH. Unless, your DADDY’s got your back. “ROOOOOOAR!” Now, the hyenas aren’t laughing anymore.
That’s why you want intimacy with the Lord in your day of trouble. YES, because a day with him is better than thousands elsewhere, but ALSO because when you’re with him, you’re SAFE. You’re untouchable. Maybe not physically. Can they still kill your BODY. Sure. But spiritually, eternally, you no longer have to FEAR, because you know the One who has the power over SOULS, over heaven or Hell.
And even when it comes to the PHYSICAL stuff in life, like, when you realize that God is totally Sovereign, that He alone is the one in the middle of the LITERAL storms in life, who has the power to keep that giant tree in your front yard from uprooting and falling on your house and crushing your whole family in your sleep in the middle of the night, that ought to make us want to stay CLOSE to Him. I’m not saying we view God as a MEANS to an end. God isn’t some impersonal, cosmic force like karma; he’s a PERSONAL being. God has a mind, a heart, a will. But He has informed us, in His word, that he actually allows his will to be AFFECTED by your prayers. He doesn’t promise to GRANT every single one of them, but He DOES at least factor them IN! So you better believe I wanna be close with the God who has the power over life and death, spiritually AND physically. That if a tree comes crashing down on MY house, it won’t be because I’m not praying and asking Him for protection, physically AND spiritually, every single night.
Pursue INTIMACY with Him: “As a deer pants for the water,
so my soul LONGS for you, O God.” (Ps 42:1)
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life” (Ps 63:1-3)
“You are my Lord, in you I take refuge, I have no good apart from you.” . . . The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot…
my heart is glad, and my whole being[e] rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol… You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 9-11)
Because who is seated at GOD’S right hand? JESUS. In HIS presence there is fullness of joy forevermore. And because of HIM we can trust that God will not abandon our souls to Sheol, to Hell. We have NO good apart from Jesus; may we take refuge in HIM, in HIS protection, in HIS salvation, may our whole beings REJOICE. Amen?
#3 - When trouble comes, we Petition God for Help (vv7-9; 11-12). David CRIES OUT:
Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
...“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!
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.
We’ve covered this already, both this morning and especially in Psalm 13, three weeks ago, so I encourage you to revisit our hope in LAMENT, in God’s invitation to cry out to Him in our hurt and pain and know that he HEARS us and he CARES for us, to be reminded that God is still in CONTROL and He is still GOOD. But let me just try and summarize it for us in a rather pointed, perhaps somewhat convicting personal question for you:
What does your prayer life say about who you believe God to be?
Spurgeon said a man’s prayers say more about his faith than anything else in his life. Not your theology. Not your church attendance. Not how long your streak of reading the Bible every day in a row is. I’m not saying those other things aren’t important. I’m just saying that if you really BELIEVE that God is Sovereign - “he is in heaven and he does all that He pleases” - and that what He PLEASES to do is in some sense actually affected by your prayers - Abraham, Moses, Elijah: they PRAYED for stuff, and God LISTENED and altered the course of history, supernaturally… Jesus said, “If even you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt 7:11), my question is: are we ASKING Him? Yes, we need to recognize that oftentimes we don’t KNOW what’s good for us. GOD does. And praise God, he’s promised to work all things together for good for us, in SPITE of us.
But the question remains: Is prayer our first response, or our last resort? Do we PETITION Him for help, in our day of trouble?
And if we DON’T, is it because we don’t think He’s really in control, because we don’t truly believe that He’s good and wants what’s best for us, OR is it because we don’t think we really NEED Him. “Nah, I got this one, God”; and we’re still fighting battles in our own strength. Friends - you will get EATEN for lunch. Cry out to God. Seek his face.
Finally, #4 - Proclaim God’s promises, Pursue intimacy with God, Petition Him for help, and lastly, Preach God’s Truth to your Soul (vv10, 13-14). David book-ends his pursuit and petitions of God, by proclaiming and preaching to himself the TRUTH of who God has already promised to be for him; v10:
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in...
This verse changed my LIFE in middle school, when after YEARS of hating God and blaming Him for my father leaving, I finally realized: “Wait a minute; GOD hasn’t forsaken me. GOD didn’t reject me. GOD hasn’t abandoned me. Earthly parents might. Earthly parents are sinful, and selfish, and stupid. Even the best of us, trying our hardest, will inevitably let you down, kids. But God’s promise is that even when those closest to us - our parents, our spouses, our best of friends - those we TRUSTED, inevitably let us down and leave us, HE will take us in. HE will accept us. HE will NEVER abandon you.
Especially not in your day of trouble. What kind of father would LEAVE you when you need him the most? Not your heavenly father! So you can say with confidence, along with David, even in the midst of your trials:
13 I believe that I shall look[f] upon the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
The land of the ETERNALLY living - HEAVEN! - because God has NOT abandoned my soul to Sheol; he has REDEEMED me through the shed blood of Jesus, and written MY name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
So when troubles come, friends, where will YOU turn? Where will you go? We all know the saying: “When the going gets TOUGH... [what?] the tough get GOING”, but the question is WHERE?! They get going WHERE? I don’t know about the “TOUGH,” but I know the WISE get going to GOD. To HIS house, to HIS temple.
How will YOU respond in the face of fear? Fight? Flight? Freeze? Or FAITH.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!
Let’s pray.