The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?

Psalm 27 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Psalm of Fearless Trust in God.

A Psalm of David.

The  Lord is my light and my salvation;                                                                                      Whom shall I fear?
Lord is the 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 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 beauty of the Lord
And to meditate in His temple.
⁵ For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His 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 with shouts of joy;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice,
And be gracious to me and answer me.
⁸ When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”
⁹ Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not abandon me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
¹⁰ For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
But the Lord will take me up.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a level path
Because of my foes.
¹² Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
¹³ I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would 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;
Yes, wait for the Lord.

The  Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread? The psalmist has a vital understanding that is obviously missing in our society and culture today. According to statistics, from the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 40 million people, roughly 18% of the adult population, suffers from anxiety disorders. I don’t mean to criticize, judge or condemn anyone who struggles with one of these disorders. I know they are real and can be life controlling. I simply have to wonder if there is a correlation between the rise of fear and anxiety, and the increase of Godlessness in our culture. We’ve taken God from our schools, now they are no longer safe places, rather children go in fear, wondering if there school could possibly be the next to have a violent tragedy.

As our culture has moved away from God and His love displayed through Jesus, His Son, we have become increasingly more fearful and violent. 1 John 4:    offers some insight for the reason behind this.

 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷ By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. ¹⁹ We love, because He first loved us.   

True love, perfect love is only found in God. Our love is a response to His perfect love. If we abide in the love of God there is nothing to fear. When we reject God’s love we naturally fear His judgment, which leads to greater rejection.  

The psalmist says: 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 beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple. ⁵ For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me.        There is an unexplainable peace and comfort that comes when we abide in the love and presence of God, when we behold His beauty. The psalmist says he seeks that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. Far too often, even believers, only seek God as a last resort. We call on Him only when our own ways have been unable to see us through. The confidence and peace we need for those times is found as we abide in the presence at all times. The Lord will answer in our time of need if we cry out to Him, just as He did for Peter in Matthew 14:29-31:

Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him…    

Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand. How much better though, how much greater is our confidence and our peace, if we will walk hand in hand with the Lord?  The psalmist says: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.(Psalm 23:4)      Hebrews 13:5-6   says:  He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," 6so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?" 

David had confidence in his eternal salvation through the Lord. He had a hope and faith about his future. But, he ends this psalm with these words:

¹³ I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would 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;
Yes, wait for the Lord.

David also had an expectation and faith that he would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Our faith too should be not only for a confidence in a future, eternal life in heaven, in the presence of God. We should also, like David, expect that we will see God’s goodness here and now. Jesus says: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

The thief has been busy in our culture and our society, stealing, killing and destroying.  The psalmist says: The Lord is my light and my salvation;                                                                     Whom shall I fear?   Wherever we have moved from the light of Christ, we have become darkened. Where we reject the perfect love of God there is fear.

Join with the psalmist in his prayer today:  ⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice,
And be gracious to me and answer me. ⁸ When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”… ¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a level path…¹⁴ Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?  Thank You Lord.   Amen.