Cnfidence Psalm 27 Cnfidence Intrductin The best children s literature is nt nly written fr children. Fairy tales can be full f danger and drama and life and death struggles like the best literature. Only then des, and they all lived happily ever after take n its full meaning. Superheres are cntinuusly saving the wrld frm imminent destructin. In Calvin and Hbbes (which used t be my persnal favrite cmic) there are always mnsters under the bed, aliens r Deranged Killer Mnster Snw Gns ready t attack. It s the drama that makes them s enjyable. A Nauseus Ncturne by Bill Wattersn Frm the darkness, by the clset Cmes a nise, much like a faucet Makes: a madd'ning drip-drip-dripping sund. It seems sme ill-prprtined beast, Anticipating me deceased, Is drling pisn puddles n the grund. This disgusting aberratin Of nature needs n mtivatin T devur helpless children in their beds. Relishing despairing mans, It chews kids up and sucks their bnes, And disslves inside its muth their li'l heads! Cnsider the ppsite a purely happy, uneventful stry: By meets girl. They fall in lve. They live happily ever after. Seriusly, what s that fr a stry? Here is anther versin: By meets girl; they fall in lve. Girl has secnd thughts and leaves him. She ends up with a real lser. By ges ff t war and nearly dies. Girl cmes t her senses and writes by, nt knwing he is in the hspital and clinging t life by a mere thread. (T be cntinued...)
Part 2: By, nw strengthened by hpe, recvers frm his wunds. He returns hme, finds girl, they get married, and nw they live happily ever after. Nw that s a stry! It s the drama, the danger, the heartbreak, the suffering that makes the stry wrth telling. It is the pssibility the abslute likelihd f things turning ut badly that makes the happy ending truly happy. Rabbi Abraham Jshua Heschel came frm Pland t New Yrk t escape the Hlcaust. In the 1960s he supprted the Civil Rights Mvement and marched at Selma with Martin Luther King. The man wh has nt suffered, what can he pssibly knw, anyway? Rabbi Abraham Jshua Heschel (1907 1972) In Psalm 27 David expresses cnfidence. This is nt a self-cnfidence r silly, superficial fantasy. It is cnfidence based n far-reaching, deep-seated trust in the Lrd. It is the pssibility the abslute likelihd f things turning ut tragically that make his trust s meaningful. Cnfidence in Gd Psalm 27:1-3 The Lrd is my light In the New Testament, Jesus frequently ascribes attributes t himself that in the Old Testament pint directly t Gd. Jhn 8:12 I am the light f the wrld. Whever fllws me will nt walk in darkness, but will have the light f life. salvatin yesha this term is related t the Hebrew name f Jesus. Saying my Jesus and my salvatin are in fact saying very similar things. fear yirah The same wrd is used t describe the fear f Gd as well as the fear f man, mnsters r any terrible circumstance. We might say that if we have a healthy fear f the Lrd, there is n need t fear anything else. Accrding t the Bible the principle religius virtue is yirah. What is the nature f yirah? The wrd has tw meanings, fear and awe Jb, wh said, Thugh He slay me, yet will I trust in Him, was nt mtivated in his piety by fear but rather by awe, by the realizatin f the grandeur f His eternal lve. Awe, unlike fear, des nt make us shrink frm the awe-inspiring bject, but, n the cntrary, draws us near t it. This is why awe is cmparable t bth lve and jy. In a sense, awe is the antithesis f fear. T feel The Lrd is my light and my salvatin is t feel Whm shall I fear? Rabbi Abraham Jshua Heschel (1907 1972)
It desn t matter t David if there are evilders, adversaries, armies encamped against him r mnsters under the bed. He knws Gd and is in awe f him. This kind f fear has a way f surpassing everything else. Desire fr Gd Psalm 27:4-6 The temple r tent (tabernacle) was the visible sign f Gd s presence amng his peple. The lnging David expresses is t be in the very presence f Gd and never have t leave. C.S. Lewis referred t these sentiments as an appetite fr Gd a fitting descriptin. With David this is a physical, tangible lnging. Gd s presence is a place f safety, a place f cmfrt in a wrld that is awfully full f truble. 24:6 sacrifices with shuts f jy sing make meldy Have yu ever thught f sacrifice as a jyful thing? Far frm the smber fulfillment f duty, David sees it as a chance fr wnderful celebratin. On that high rck f abslute safety, Gd deserves praise. Prayer t Gd Psalm 27:7-12 This sectin gives us a change f md. Gd s presence is n lnger enugh. He wants the very face f Gd. Yu can almst hear the desperatin as he knws he is abslutely dependent upn the Lrd. Whatever the actual circumstances, human help is nt ging t be sufficient. It is unreliable and lacking at best when cmpared t cnfidence in Gd. Gd s faithfulness is mre t be cunted n than the lve f a father r mther. The extravagance f this declaratin f trust in Gd, perhaps the mst extreme in the whle Bible, is breathtaking and perhaps even disturbing In the best f circumstance, the mst uncnditinal, unstinting lve and care we experience are frm a mther and father We can imagine, the psalmist says, circumstances in which even that lve might fail, but Gd will be bth father and mther t him in the mst dire straits. Rbert Alter, prfessr f Hebrew and cmparative literature, UC Berkeley Mre Cnfidence Psalm 27:13-14 The psalm began with cnfidence and it returns t cnfidence again. The difficulties are real, the enemies are strng, the situatin may be desperate. Still, David s cnfidence is deliberate and unshaken.
It is the abslute likelihd f defeat that makes this kind f cnfidence s necessary. This kind f trust can nly be develped in struggles and suffering and the very real pprtunity fr failure. Be strng and let yur heart take curage These verbs ccur tgether in their cmmand frm 12 times in the Old Testament. Fur f thse times are in Jshua 1 just befre the Israelites made their entrance int the land. Jshua 1:6 Be strng and curageus, fr yu shall cause this peple t inherit the land that I swre t their fathers t give them. 7 Only be strng and very curageus, being careful t d accrding t all the law that Mses my servant cmmanded yu 9 Have I nt cmmanded yu? Be strng and curageus. 18 Only be strng and curageus. Cnfidence Cnclusins At the beginning we read a pem frm the cmic strip Calvin and Hbbes. It was nighttime and Calvin was feeling the very real threat f a mnster. Here is hw the pem ends. A Nauseus Ncturne by Bill Wattersn As speedily my end appraches, I bid a final "buenas nches" T my best friend here in all the wrld. Gently snring, whiskers seeming T sniff at smells (he must be dreaming), He lies snuggled in the blankets, curled. HEY! WAKE UP, YOU STUPID CRETIN! YOU GONNA SLEEP WHILE I GET EATEN?! (Suddenly the mnster knws I'm nt alne!) There's an animal in bed with me! An awful beast he did nt see! The mnster never wuld've cme if he had knwn! The mnster, in his cnsternatin, Demnstrates defenestratin, And runs and runs and runs and runs away. Rid f the pest, I nw can rest, Thanks t my best friend, wh saved the day.
Calvin s mnster was ttally imaginary, but the drama he faced is exactly the kind f thing that is real. Any cnfidence we have in urselves r thers is bund t eventually be misplaced. We have t be filled with an awe f Gd ne that makes us lng t be in his presence and lng t seek his face. The bttm line is that he alne in all the universe can be trusted. In a sense, awe is the antithesis f fear. T feel The Lrd is my light and my salvatin is t feel Whm shall I fear? (Psalm 27:1) Rabbi Abraham Jshua Heschel (1907 1972) In the mment, we may nt enjy danger, drama, the real pssibility and abslute likelihd f defeat. In the end, it turns ut t be necessary t develp the kind f trust that this psalm expresses. We serve a Gd wh, after the epically tragic fall f the human race, stepped int the stry t save us. We serve a risen Savir wh knws better than we d what it means t struggle and suffer and die. The Lrd is mre reliable than any stuffed tiger and far mre pwerful than the biggest mnster. And in the end, yu can be cnfident that yur life is ging t be a stry wrth hearing. Be strng, and let yur heart take curage.