The First Congregational Church of Plainfield Philippians 3:17 4:1 bulletin p. 5 Deacon Chelle Wright Psalm 27 pew bible p. 493 Pastor Terry The Message Wait, Be Strong, Take Courage Pastor Terry Psalm 27 Triumphant Song of Confidence Of David. 1 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 devour my flesh my adversaries and foes they shall stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. 4 One thing I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold 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 set me high on a rock. 6 Now my head is 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 Come, my heart says, seek his face! Your face, LORD, do I seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation! 10 If my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me up. 11 Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out violence. 13 I believe that I shall see 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! What a beautiful expression of David s heart. As I read the verses for you today, did you feel the emotion behind David s words? King David certainly was a sensitive
man. He poured his heart out to God and then he chose to write it down. He had songs made of his poetry. He gave us a gift with his words. Sometimes, we may think that we are the only ones that feel a certain way. We think we are strange or afraid to share with another. I know I have felt that way and sometimes still do. And when we think like this, when we think that we are the only ones that could be, or feel, or think like this, we end up feeling alone and isolated. That s when fear and anxiety and even panic creep in and become unwanted companions. But, when we find out that others feel the same way or have thought the same thoughts or have had the same doubts or have made some of the same mistakes, our burden somehow feels lighter. Knowing that others have walked the same journey helps us to realize that we are not alone. And a burden shared is much easier to carry. That s what David does for us in this Psalm. He lets us know that we are not alone in our human journey. 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? That reminds me of something that the Apostle Paul wrote: What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won t he also give us everything else? i God chose to reveal these things to us through King David and through the Apostle Paul. God wants us to find comfort in knowing that we can t lose when we have God by our side. We can only win when we trust God enough to follow his will for our lives individually and collectively. God support our honest efforts to be in sync with His will; efforts that are good and right and loving. We have no reason to fear anything because it will all be worked out in God s time. David wrote Psalm 27 so we would know that and so we would trust that and rely on it. Keep your eyes on Jesus even when you want to fall apart. When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh my adversaries and foes They shall stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; Though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. David uses military words about foes and armies. Since we are not kings like he was we may gloss over and think these words do not apply to our lives but they do.
Every day we stare our foes, our adversaries in the face. Sometimes, it is when we look in the mirror. When we think we are not good enough then we are our own enemy. Why do you do that? Why do I do that? Is it because we ve forgotten who we are? Why don t we believe that the Master Craftsman has made us each unique and special. How dare I, how dare you - be anything but grateful for the lot we have been given by the Creator. As the Prophet Isaiah wrote: How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, He didn t make me? Does a jar ever say, The potter who made me is stupid? ii Or maybe your adversary, your foe is that you aweful-ize. Someone used that term one time and it stuck. It stuck because it is one of my adversaries and it likes to encamp around me and it sure causes me to be fearful. Do you awefulize? Do you allow your imagination to create scenarios of what the future might be that probably will never happen? When you choose to allow yourself to go to that scary place (I have noticed first hand), you cause yourself to feel all the emotions inside your soul as if it was a reality fear, discouragement, sadness, anxiety and my all-time favorite panic. For me lately, I had to do some searching to find a place of peace with God in the midst of uncertainty my life feels like a tornado. And, I hate uncertainty which is of course another one of those enemies that leaps out and surprises us, right when we hoped that everything would be neat and in line with our expectations. So our foes, our adversaries, are in our lives daily, that is if we choose to be mindful and pay attention. Whether we are facing our own internal demons or those that pluck away at us from the outside, David tells us to be aware of God s presence. David wants us to know that we can have confidence, we can feel secure, we can be certain that God will always have our backs. One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: To live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. 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 set me high on a rock.
Where is the house of the Lord? Surely, David did not live in his place of worship day in and day out. So what could this mean to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life? We live in God s house when we recognize his presence in our hearts, in our souls. God is within. At any time, whether it is a time of great happiness or sadness, whether it is in a time of clarity or in a time of utter confusion, we always have a peaceful shelter to go to; the shelter within our eternal soul; a shelter that cannot be invaded, a shelter where God covers us. We have our very own sanctuary and we carry it with us 24/7. King David continues but now it seems his mood has changed. His fears have crept in. Anxiety and panic seem to have replaced his confidence and joy. Now my head is 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. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! Come, my heart says, seek his face! Your face, Lord, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, Why the shift here? The confident and faithful man changed. Doesn t that happen to us too? One day we wake up and feel on top of the world, the next we wake up in a cloud of doom. One day we pray and God feels so close, next day we pray and feel as if God is far away. One day we are sure that with our faith we can persevere through anything and the next, we feel like we are just crumbling under the weight of life and are bewildered and lost. We are human, we are works in progress. But the more we practice relying on God the better we ll get at finding our way back to that sanctuary within. So in this second Sunday of Lent, consider another teaching of Jesus. He gave us this amazing lesson so that in every situation especially in those moments when we lose our direction and can t seem to find our inner shelter, he said, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. iii Sounds a lot like what King David wrote, doesn t it? Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
Let s think about that. Amen. i Romans 8:31-32 NLT ii Isaiah 29:16 NLT iii Matthew 7:7-8 NRSV