A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.
A Psalm of David.
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the [a]defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
2 When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,
My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
3 Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war arise against me,
In spite of this I [b]shall be confident.4 One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the [c]beauty of the Lord
And to [d]meditate in His temple.
5 For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His [e]tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock.
6 And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,
And I will offer in His tent sacrifices [f]with shouts of joy;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
Verse 1 is pivotal here, and expresses the ultimate confidence in God. Who should you fear, who should make you afraid? When God is your light, and salvation, the defender of your very life, the answer is simple: no one.
God has rescued our very souls from the pit of hell, and no one can take us from His hands. Though an entire army come against us, or war break out on our doorstep, no one can overcome God. We are safe in His hands, not just for this life, but for eternity, and that takes us into the second stanza. David asks to dwell in the house of the Lord all his days.
That’s a lot of days, because we were created for eternity. Though our body will someday die, and rot, and fade into dust, we will live on. And for those who put their trust in God, for those whom God is the light of our life, that means an eternity spent with the One who gave us the very breath of life. So lift up your head, and lay down your life at His feet with “shouts of joy”, and sing. Oh sing for joy, because God himself is our light, our salvation, and our strong defender.