I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.

Psalm 27 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The 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 psalmist says:  The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?  When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.  Though a host encamp against me,
My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident.  David spoke of protection from physical enemies, those who actually sought to kill him. Sometimes it may not be a host; an army that is against us, but instead the circumstances of life. We may deal with a whole host of pressures, stresses and difficulties. It may seem like we are at war with life itself. It is then that we need to know, like the psalmist, that the Lord is the defense of our life. We need not fear. Romans 8:31;35-39 says:  If God is for us, who is against us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Look at what the psalmist says:  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.  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.  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. If we want to know the peace and protection of the Lord we should dwell in His house. We should hide in Him, beholding His beauty and meditating in His temple. Even more though, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says: Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.  We need to take seriously the privilege and responsibility that we have as the dwelling place of God on earth. In Luke 17:21 Jesus says:  Behold, the kingdom of God is within you.  Jesus taught us to pray saying: Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  As those who have the kingdom within us, we should not only pray that prayer, but we should be part of the answer to that prayer. More than hiding from the world, we should be people who carry the kingdom of God; its light and salvation to the world.  

The psalmist ends saying:  I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.  The promise of God is not just that we have a future with Him in heaven, where Revelation 21:4 says:  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain, but His promise is that we will see His goodness in the land of the living. It is for here and now. Our waiting for the Lord does not mean that we wait for a time in the future. God is eternal. He is not limited by time. We take courage as we wait for our time to align with Him as we dwell in His presence. 

The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?  Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.  Amen.