Of David.
One thing I ask from the Lord.
This only do I seek.
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
To gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble, he will help keep me safe in his dwelling.
He will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.
Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me.
At his sacred tent, I will sacrifice with shouts of joy.
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Hear my voice when I call, Lord.
Be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, seek his face.
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger.
You have been my helper.
Do not reject or forsake me, God my savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.
Teach me your way, Lord.
Lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.
Do not hand me over to the desire of my foes.
For false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.
I remain confident of this.
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord.
Be strong.
Take heart and wait for the Lord.
Thank you.
Amen.
Thanks, Steve.
Let's pray, shall we?
Father, we do thank you for your illuminating and precious word.
We thank you, Lord, for this psalm, Psalm 27.
And we pray that as I speak, that my words be clear.
And that, Father, by your spirit, as we've been singing in that last song,
you would illuminate us and show us what you want us to see tonight.
We pray that we would have ears to hear and hearts to learn from you.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Question for you.
Where do you turn when you're in trouble?
When you're in deep trouble?
When perhaps you fear the worst is going to happen?
Or perhaps it already has and you're just fearing how it's all going to play out.
Well, David in this psalm is in real deep trouble.
And as Steve encouraged us this morning, I'd encourage you to keep your Bibles open.
And as you scan through it, you'll see some of the opposition he faced.
In verse, his enemies are evident throughout the psalm.
In verse 2, he describes his enemies like wild animals seeking to devour him.
David sure is in deep trouble.
So where does he turn?
If we were to sum up Psalm 27 in one sentence, as I'm encouraged to do very often,
and I find very difficult, it would be this.
See if you can do it better than this.
David seeks refuge from his enemies in the presence of the Lord.
That's what's going on in this psalm.
David has many enemies and he's seeking refuge.
The Lord is God.
As you read through, you'll see it's a very personal psalm.
You can see that by the amount of times my, I and me are mentioned.
But it's included in the psalms in the Israelite songbook,
so that God's people of all generations may be encouraged to trust in God with their troubles and to seek his face.
We have a pattern here of how David seeks refuge in God.
And I wonder if you would just hear me out and follow through with me.
What does he do?
He expresses his confidence in God and he prays.
But how does he do it?
The psalm seems to break naturally into four sections.
Verses 1-3, he trusts that the Lord will deliver him.
Verses 4-6, he desires to live in the Lord's presence.
Verses 7-12, he prays seeking the Lord.
And then David has his own conclusion to the psalm.
In verses 13 and 14, he confidently waits for the Lord.
Lucy was advising that I didn't have much to say,
that I read the psalm through twice and that would be okay.
So Steve's already read it once and I'm going to read it through again,
but not all.
I'm going to read it in sections.
As we cover each section, I'll read through those verses.
So verses 1-3, he trusts in the Lord that the Lord will deliver.
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?
When the wicked advance against me to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear.
Though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.
Well, verse 1, the Lord is my light and my salvation,
is very familiar to us.
So I'd like us to take a moment to reflect on those truths and let them soak in.
David reminds himself that it is the Lord who is his light and his salvation and refuge.
He says,
the Lord is my light and my salvation.
The Lord is the stronghold of my life.
He rejoices that the Lord is these things to him personally,
when he says the Lord is my light,
is my light, my salvation,
and the Lord is the stronghold of my life.
So David's testimony in short here is that
the Lord is for him light, salvation and a stronghold.
And therefore he'll fear no one.
We've been reading Romans, haven't we, in the morning.
And Romans 8, 31,
if God is for us, who can be against us,
is perhaps the New Testament version of this.
I will not fear.
God is for me.
Who can be against me?
He then sets out two scenarios.
See if you can see them there in the next couple of verses.
And they're not far-fetched scenarios.
They're realities in his day-to-day life.
He says,
when the wicked advance against me,
it is they who will stumble and fall.
Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear.
He could be reflecting on two occasions,
you may recall in your mind,
when Saul was hunting him down,
or more than,
there were several occasions when Saul was hunting him, of course.
And then when Absalom went into Jerusalem
and he had to flee.
But we're not told that that's what it is,
so it may not be that.
But we do know that his confidence that whoever comes against him,
whatever's thrown at him,
is safe because the Lord is his light,
his salvation,
and his stronghold.
And it's interesting, isn't it,
that we're not told the detail about his enemies.
We're told what they were like.
We're not told of what the situation was.
And I wonder whether that's because
in applying this psalm to ourselves,
we can say this true of ourselves.
If David had said,
when, you know,
because Saul is hunting me down,
then I know the Lord is my light and my salvation.
We might tend to ignore that.
But because it's so general,
we can apply this psalm to ourselves
and see the Lord as our light,
our salvation,
and our stronghold.
And living this side of the cross of Jesus,
we know, of course,
from the Gospels
that Jesus fulfills his very things.
He is our light.
John 8, 12, he says,
I'm the light of the world.
Whoever follows me
will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.
Jesus is the Lord
who is our salvation.
Not just provide salvation,
not just will give us salvation
when we ask for it,
but he is himself our salvation
with what he's done on the cross.
Jesus is our stronghold,
firstly from the wrath of God
that we deserve for our sin,
but then from every situation
then we go on to face.
He is our stronghold.
He is our refuge.
So as David confidently reminds himself
of the deliverance of the Lord,
you and I should have even more confidence
because we see the Father
providing for us in Jesus.
So our question is,
what difficult situations
are you facing at present?
And I know we all face
them of various grades
and various types.
Where do you see the Lord,
you need the Lord as your light,
your salvation
and your stronghold?
Is it relationships
that aren't quite going
as you'd hoped
or as they should be?
Is it finances
that you're struggling with?
Or is it an uncertain future?
You literally don't know
what tomorrow will bring.
But trust him
and do not fear.
He is able.
He is your light,
your salvation
and your stronghold.
So how does David find refuge?
He trusts the Lord to deliver him,
but he also knows
the refuge he needs
is found in one place
and that is God's presence.
Let's read verses four to six.
One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek,
that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble,
he will keep me safe
in his dwelling.
He will hide me
in the shelter
of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies
who surround me.
At his sacred tent,
I will sacrifice
with shouts of joy.
I will sing
and make music
to the Lord.
Now for me,
there's a strange thing
going on here
in verses four and five.
David refers
to the house of the Lord,
the temple,
temple,
and his sacred tent.
But in David's time,
David's day,
the temple hadn't been built.
So where does he get
the house of the Lord from
and where does he get
the temple from?
These are future things.
But they did have a tent,
of course.
The temple
is pointing forward to Jesus
that we'll see in just a minute.
But David's immediate
understanding
was all three places,
temple,
house,
tent,
was where God
would meet
with his people.
David's overriding desire
above everything else
was to meet with God
and to live
in God's presence.
And it's through that,
in verse five,
he finds refuge.
So he has one thing he wants,
one overriding desire,
but in true preacher fashion,
he expresses it
in three words.
And here they are.
It's to dwell
or live
in the presence
of the Lord,
to gaze on the beauty
of the Lord,
and to seek God.
Different ways of saying
he just wants to dwell
in God's presence.
The language of these verses
is, for me,
beautiful.
It's quite serious
and uncompromising.
He doesn't just want
to glance at the Lord,
look at the Lord occasionally,
but he wants to gaze.
To gaze
takes time.
It involves
not just your eyes,
but it involves
your emotions.
It moves you.
It engages you.
You've probably
all been on holiday
at some point
and you've seen
a beautiful sunset
or you've seen
a majestic mountain range
and you just have
to stop
and gaze.
There's not many
of us that say,
oh yeah,
some mountains,
oh yeah,
sunset.
No, it engages us.
We stand
and we gaze.
That's David's desire here,
to stand
and gaze
to enjoy
the magnificence,
the glory.
But why is he gazing?
In the next line
it says,
to enjoy
the beauty
of the Lord.
He's gazing
at the beauty
of the Lord.
So gazing
on the beauty
of the Lord
seems to be
for him
in these
troubles
he's going through,
this persecution
he's facing,
it seems to be
a reset
of some sort.
Now he sees
that in what
God does
for him
and who
indeed
God is
for him.
I've just
lost my place.
Yeah.
He sees
in those things
that God
is his refuge,
his vindication
over his enemies
and at the end
of verse 6
his heart
responds
in joyful
worship.
most of us
are living
in London
and whether
we're living
in London
or not
we have
very busy
lives
and it
is difficult
to take
time
to gaze.
Not an awful
lot to gaze
at in the
streets around
here
but gazing
at the Lord
is what we
need to do.
Take time
in his presence
to marvel
at his
beauty,
his character,
his awesomeness.
When we
realise that
he's our
then we realise
he's our safety
and refuge
because we see
God as far
greater,
far bigger
than our
problems.
If we
don't take
time in
the presence
of the
Lord
to look
at who
he is
our problems
just take
the first
point and
we don't
see him
as the
Lord over
those problems.
So we
noted just
earlier David's
reference to
the temple
also points
into Jesus
but I'd
just like to
say that we
see this
pointed out
by Jesus
himself in
the Gospels
around 600
years after
David
Jesus said
this to
the Pharisees
I tell you
that something
greater than
the temple
is here.
That's
Matthew 12
6 and
then John
2 19
he says
destroy this
temple
again he's
speaking to
the Pharisees
destroy this
temple and
I will raise
it again
in three
days.
We know
he was
talking about
his own
body.
Christ is
our temple
he is the
place now
where you
and I
meet God.
In him
we see the
father through
him we
gaze at
the beauty
of the
Lord.
In him
we are
kept safe
and set
high upon
a rock.
So without
knowing it
it's crazy
isn't it
without knowing
it David
pointed to
Jesus who
is the
greatest and
clearest
expression of
the Lord and
of the place
where we meet
God.
So this
is David's
desire but
it was not
fully his
experience.
If we read
the verses
following we
see that he
longs for
this but he's
praying earnestly
for it.
He calls out in
prayer.
Verses 7 to
12 he prays
seeking the
Lord and
see as I read
this if you
can detect a
change in
tone.
Hear my voice
when I call
Lord.
Be merciful to
me and
answer me.
My heart
says of you
seek his
face.
Your face
Lord I
will seek.
Do not
hide your
face from
me.
Do not
turn your
servant away
in anger.
You have
been my
helper.
Do not
reject me
or forsake
me God
my saviour.
Though my
father and
mother forsake
me the
Lord will
receive me.
Teach me
your way
O Lord.
Lead me
in a
straight path
because of
my oppressors.
Do not
turn me over
to the
desire of
my foes.
The
false
witnesses
rise up
against me
spouting
malicious
accusations.
So there's
a shift in
tone if you
can see that
in these
verses.
A jolt
from the
joyful
confidence
I know
the Lord
as my
rock,
my redeemer,
my salvation,
my light
to
pleading
in verse
seven.
Hear my
voice when
I call
Lord.
Verse
nine,
do not
hide your
face from
me.
Verse
seven,
he has
this
sense of
unworthiness
come over
him.
Be
merciful to
me and
answer me.
And then
when he gets
to verse
10,
his confidence
comes back
again.
Though my
father and
mother forsake
me, the
Lord will
receive me.
So central
to this
section is
David's
desire to
seek God
now described
as seeking
his face.
We need
to just
pause a
little here.
If you're
reading the
NIV, which
most of us
are, it
says,
my heart
says of
you, seek
his face,
your face
Lord, I
will seek.
The ESV
is better
translated,
and I'll
try and show
you the
difference.
The ESV
says, you
have said,
seek my
face, my
heart says
to you, your
face Lord, do
I seek.
Let me read
that again.
You have
said, seek
my face, my
heart says
to you, your
face Lord, do
I seek.
This puts
the phrase
seek my
face as a
command from
God, because
he says, you
have said.
seek my
face.
You have
said, seek
my face.
And the
word seek
here is
plural, more
than one
person.
So David,
God here is
given a
command to
David and
David's
people, and
I think to
us as well.
It's a
plural.
Why does
this language
matter?
It matters
because it
shows us that
the initiative
comes from
God.
If God
has made
the first
move before
we seek his
face, God
has said to
us, seek
my face.
It is God
who himself
calls us into
deeper communion.
communion.
That's in
itself beautiful.
And David
responds from
the heart,
your face,
Lord, do I
seek?
And when
God says to
us, seek my
face, as he
does here in
the pages of
scripture, that
should be our
answer too,
shouldn't it?
Your face,
Lord, do I
seek?
Verse 11
changes tone
slightly again.
And in the
face of his
oppressors,
foes, false
witnesses and
accusers,
David's
prayer is to
seek the
Lord's face
and be
taught the
Lord's way.
Verse 11,
teach me your
way, Lord.
David's
enemies are
accusing him.
According to
these verses,
they're telling
lies about
him.
So he
needs God's
wisdom how
to respond
to them,
how to
respond in
a godly
way.
And this
is all part
of an
intimate walk
with the
Lord.
It's all
part of
living our
Christian lives
before him,
but we
need him
to show
us his
way so
that when
people oppose
us,
people rub
us up the
wrong way
or slander
us in some
way,
that we
respond,
the Lord
teaches us
his way,
that we
may respond
in a
godly
way.
He
expresses the
desire here
to walk
rightly with
God,
even when
under pressure
from the
vilest of
enemies in
his case.
How do we
respond to
problems and
opposition?
What will
we ask God
for in those
times of
stress?
David can
only face
the onslaught
by knowing
God's
presence
firstly,
and then
learning God's
way.
So we're
nearly at the
end,
we're nearly
at David's
conclusion,
but what we've
seen is that
he trusts
that the
Lord will
deliver him.
His desire
was to be
with the
Lord,
and he
prayed seeking
the Lord.
Now briefly
we see he
confidently waits
for the
Lord.
Verses 13
and 14,
I remain
confident of
this, I
will see the
goodness of
the Lord in
the land of
the living.
Wait for
the Lord,
be strong
and take
heart,
and wait
for the
Lord.
So David
may not
see all
of his
problems
solved in
this life,
but what
he does
know,
what he
is confident
about,
is that he
will experience
the goodness
of the
Lord in
the land
of the
living.
So though
he may
have
problems,
as he
seeks God's
face,
as he
learns to
walk with
him,
he will
know the
goodness
of the
Lord.
There's
an expectancy
here that
through the
opposition,
of enemies
and the
trials of
his life,
he will
experience
what he
most desires,
the refuge
and close
communion with
the Lord.
So our
problems,
our issues,
things that
keep us awake
at night,
if we
take refuge
in the
Lord,
seek his
face,
gaze upon
the beauty
of the
Lord,
those very
problems
will be
a source
of blessing
to us
as we
experience
God's
help
and God's
presence
in a
greater
way.
So he
tells himself
and he
tells you
and I
as we
read this
psalm,
be strong,
take heart
and wait
for the
Lord.
You don't
see answers
now,
wait for
the Lord.
He is
able,
he will
deliver,
he is
glorious,
he will
bless,
wait for
the Lord.
Let's
pray.
Father,
thank you
for those
truths that
you are
glorious,
you are
great,
you are
worthy of
our gaze,
you are
worthy of
our worship.
Father,
help us
to do
that and
help us
to see
how Jesus
is that
fulfillment
and how
he draws
us to
you.
he makes
it possible.
So as we
gaze upon
you this
week,
will you
please help
us to
give thanks
for our
Lord Jesus
Christ in
his name.
Amen.