Psalms No.3 Taking Heart

I'd like you to join on the even-numbered verses as we share this reading together. And even if yours is not the A.V. version of the Bible, nonetheless, please read out what you have on the even-numbered verses. Psalm 27, a Psalm of David.

The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion.

In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice.

Have mercy also upon me and answer me. Hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger.

Thou hast been my help. Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies.

I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. If you would have your Bibles open at Psalm 27, and it's my objective to share with you something of the teaching of the whole of this Psalm of 14 verses. The Psalms are like a range of mountains akin to the Himalayas and well would we as Christian people traverse the whole range, spend time in scaling each of these Psalms.

We will discover that there are some that go to higher heights than others. There are some that stand out majestically like Everest does amongst the mountains that keeps that one company. The 23rd Psalm, which we looked at some weeks ago, is one that certainly soars very, very high indeed, as does the 51st and the 73rd Psalm.

But it seems to me that the 27th is also one of those Hebrew poems which goes to great heights. And what I suggest this morning is that as mountaineers, with the link of the rope of faith strapping us all one to the other, we endeavor to climb this particular mountain. And if we do it successfully, then I promise you a panorama of the majesty of God, a glimpse into something of the faithfulness, the fidelity of the Lord to those who trust Him.

If together we soar to the top, we shall find out more about the precision of prayer and the way that the man who in difficult days can engage in the mighty ministry of intercession discovers resources innate within him placed there by Almighty God. I tell you that this is a mountainous psalm. It requires study.

It requires concentration. But effort, as in natural mountaineering, is rewarded by tremendous view. And here, effort will pay its own dividends on the part of any young Bible student or older one who's prepared to stay the course.

Now let me make one or two opening observations as we move towards this mountain. Two or three things that I'd like to tell you about it is perhaps tensing, told Hillary concerning the Everest when he helped that man with his team to scale that Himalayan peak. This particular psalm is chock-a-block full of the name of God.

The Lord seems to throb in every verse, not only His name, but also, of course, His presence. If you divide the psalm into two parts, as you can quite easily do, then you will find that in the first six verses, the name of the Lord occurs six different times. And in the latter part of the psalm, from the 7th to the 14th verse, you will find that the name of the Lord is written in some eight times.

It's a psalm which introduces you at every step that you climb to the greatness of the God of the biblical faith. What are the first words you read in this psalm? The Lord. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

What are the last words that you read in this psalm? Wait, I say, on the Lord. It starts with God. It finishes with God.

And you meet nothing but the Lord God all the way through. So, there is ample argument for all of you who claim to be godly people to consider its teaching. Notice I said that it conveniently splits into two.

And without any pressure from an enthusiastic preacher, that division is made. For in the first six verses, you are confronted by praise, by statement of faith. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear? Go to the sixth verse and the latter part. I will sing. I will sing praises unto the Lord.

Here is thanksgiving. Here is worship. But move into the second part of the psalm from the seventh verse.

And what do you discover? Petition. Verse 7, hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Verse 11, teach me thy way, O Lord.

Verse 12, deliver me not unto the will of mine enemies. And here again, just by way of introduction, is a good biblical principle maintained throughout the Old Testament and on into the New. Praise comes before petition.

Praise helps to set in relief the attributes of God so that when you're confronted with the terror of human experience, you're not afraid because you know something of the might and the majesty of the Lord. When the Apostle Paul enjoins the readers of his epistles to pray as he often does, then he tells them as, for example, in the last chapter of the epistle to the Philippians, to continue in prayer with thanksgiving. We have every biblical justification for calling our main time of worship midweek or during the week, the meeting for praise and for prayer.

For we come together to praise the Lord. And then on the basis of reaffirming what we believe about him, we ask the Lord the most astonishing things. Convinced as was Newton, we are coming to a king.

Large petitions with his breath with us bring for his grace and power as such. Never could ask too much. Never could anyone ask too much.

And just one other thing, by way of introduction concerning this psalm, it's a very personal psalm. Look again as I lay emphasis on one or two words. Take the first verse and one could take any verse at random.

The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Take the next to the last verse, the penultimate verse, number 13.

I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Martin Luther said that the marrow of the gospel is in the personal pronouns of the New Testament. And he was referring to I and mine and our and ours.

The whole idea of the biblical religion being a personal thing. You see, you're not saved in a corporation. You're not saved in community.

You're not even saved in family. You're not even saved as a married couple. You're saved as individuals.

And if you don't like, as I mentioned, someone taking exception to this pulpit the other Sunday, if you don't like the personal application of the message of the Bible, do not criticize us. Criticize the author of the Bible itself. Because the biblical religion is a personal thing.

And as we move to this mountain, this mountain of psalm, I ask you man, I ask you woman, I ask you boy, I ask you girl, can you say the Lord is my light? Can you say, wait on the Lord, be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say on the Lord. As though you're offering advice on the basis of your own experience.

Well then, let's come to these first six verses. And here we have exultant praise. Exultant praise.

The sixth verse, I remind you, speaks quite conveniently for us here in this lovely sanctuary. Of offering God praise in his tabernacle. Singing out sacrifices of joy.

But why is this psalmist so jubilant? Why is he such a happy man? Why does he not believe that religion was designed to make you miserable? As is the popular notion. Well, he's joyful for two particular reasons. And the first is that his resources are in God.

And the second is that his refuge is in his faith. His resources are in God. That stands out in the first three verses.

What does he tell us in the opening stanza about the Lord? Three qualities are listed there. The Lord is light. The Lord is salvation.

The Lord is strength. In theology, the study of doctrine, you sometimes come across the concept of the attributes of God. That means those characteristics that belong to God.

You can work this out in terms of an ordinary person to a limited extent. What are my characteristics? I'm not asking for any vocal contribution. I'll tell you one or two.

I'm six foot two. Higher than a number of people. I come from the north of England, as sometimes is apparent, particularly if I get a little excited and a bit of Sheffield dialect creeps into my preaching.

Part of my attributes by which I am known, not necessarily good attributes, but nonetheless, they are there. You would recognize me by them. What are the attributes of God? Well, there are many.

There are a good number that are listed in scripture, but here are three. The Lord is light. There are only two references to the Lord in terms of light in the Old Testament, incidentally.

Here in the prophecy of Micah. And when you move into the New Testament, you get a tremendous statement. God is light.

And in Him there is no darkness at all. And we're told of the Lord Jesus, harmonizing with the fact that He is the expression of the Father God. Jesus Christ is the light of the world.

Now, here the psalmist is rejoicing in the fact that God is light. He illuminates those who are in darkness. I'll come back to that in a moment.

What else does he say about God? Well, he says the Lord is salvation. The source of salvation is God Himself. He's not just the God of salvation.

He is God, the one who grants salvation, the one whose whole being incorporates, if you can grasp such a thought, that salvation is His will for men and women. He's the one of whom it could be said it is natural for Him always to help. He is the deification of salvation.

And what's more, the third attribute, the Lord is the strength. God is the one who grants strength to those who are weak. When the apostle Paul is at his wit's end, when he's on his own, attacked by the combined forces of the hostility of the Jews and that of the Roman government, he looked for some Christian to get alongside him and grant him help and support.

But he says, when he writes to Timothy, that there was no one there. Nevertheless, the Lord stood by me and strengthened me. All right, put these three attributes together.

Put this triplet all into one. And you find there a panoply. You find there a covering which will transport, or rather transcend, change any situation that a person is going through if he happens to know that God is light, God is salvation, and God is strength.

But let's just increase on the application of that for a moment or so. Because you see, here the personal aspect of the psalm comes through again. David is saying, the Lord is my light.

David is saying, the Lord is my strength. David is saying, the Lord is my salvation. What does a sinner need? He needs light.

Because men naturally are in darkness. And when salvation comes, it illuminates the mind and the heart of the sinner. But what does the converted sinner then require? Well, he needs strength.

Strength to be able to live for God. Now let's get it straight. The biblical way of life is not an insurance policy against all ills.

The Christian, the godly person, will be afflicted like anyone else is afflicted as he or she goes through life. We will know all the restrictions that others know in terms of bodily weakness, in terms of fear, in terms of complex situations. The Lord never said that he would deliver us from such circumstances.

But what he did say is that he'd take us through them on the basis that he was alongside us. Now in the second and third verses of this psalm, you find that the man has gone through very, very problematical experiences. He talks about his foes.

He talks about a host encamping against him. You could read into verses two and three your own situation, whatever it is. And you can hop back to verse one.

And say that no matter how difficult life might be for me at this moment. Because the Lord is my light. Because the Lord is my salvation.

Because the Lord is the strength of my life, I can cope. In effect, what we're saying is exactly what I shared with you last Sunday morning. If God be for us, then it doesn't really matter who else or what else is opposed to us.

Because one with God is the majority. So as a father with difficult problems in my family circumstances. As an employer with trouble in my business.

As a youngster with difficulty at school and with my studies. Nonetheless, I can rejoice because I'm not on my own. The Lord is alongside me.

He's my light. He's my salvation. He is my strength.

His resources are in God. It's a remarkable thing that God is concerned for you and for me. No matter what my needs may be.

Concerned to bring me salvation. Concerned to love me. And of this I can be confident.

I don't understand it. But I believe it. That thou shouldst love a worm like me.

Almighty as thou art. Is darkness to my intellect but sunshine to my heart. And praise God, I can rejoice.

Whatever my circumstances. Because I've got resources in the divine attributes. The Lord is my light.

He is my salvation. He is my strength. But moreover, not only do I rejoice because of my resources in God.

But because my refuge is in my faith. Look at the fourth verse. And on to the sixth verse.

Because here this thought is encapsulated. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. 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 inquire in his temple. David there is literally thinking of the tabernacle in Jerusalem. Which gave birth to the temple.

He's thinking of the priests. And he's saying, wouldn't it be wonderful just to live in the priest's quarters. Do you often feel like that yourself? Wouldn't it be wonderful to be pastor of the tabernacle? No problems at all.

No pressures at all. Come here every day. No difficult people to cope with.

Everything would be so wonderful. And for David it was impossible to get to Jerusalem. Possibly, I'm only speculating now.

But possibly he wrote this psalm when he'd been ejected from Jerusalem by Absalom, his son. And it's not therefore easy for David to get back to Jerusalem. This holy place, the tabernacle.

Oh, that he could be there with the Levites. How much easier things would be. Oh, that he could come before the Lord and gaze upon his beauty.

And spend all his time in the felt presence of the living God. And sometimes we perhaps feel like that. Or to be in some sort of monastic community.

Or to be in some religious retreat where you're divorced from all the pressures and all the problems. But David says in the fifth verse. Moving from what seems to me to be a specific thought of the tabernacle in Jerusalem in the fourth.

To the idea of God's presence being just where he is. As one Puritan writer comments. God's temple is as wide as the universe.

In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock.

David's not back in Jerusalem. But he is in the time of trouble. He can't get to the tabernacle literally.

But there is a pavilion. The pavilion of God's presence. Which is available there in the wilderness of Judea.

As much as it ever was in Jerusalem. God's temple is as wide as the universe. Do you believe that? If you do.

You can rejoice always. Whatever your circumstances. In a time of trouble.

In a time forlorn. There is a hiding place where hope is born. There is a hiding place.

A strong protective place. Where God provides the grace to persevere. In a time of trouble.

There is a hiding place. Where hope is born. And it was born for David.

Even though Absalom had dealt so treacherously with him. Even though David hung his head in shame. He can now rejoice in the Lord.

Because God is with him. He not only has resources in the attribute of God. In the attributes of God.

He has refuge in his faith. And the sixth verse tells us. And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me.

You hang your head in shame. You may hang your head in fear. But the biblical man has had his shame taken away.

And his fear is neutralized by the presence of the Lord God. And he moves around in a dignity that he didn't acquire himself. But it was passed on to him by the Lord.

And so here it is David. He's not in some Swiss mountain resort. Where everything is nice and wonderful.

He's not in a cozy situation. He's in trouble. But despite his trouble he can rejoice.

And there's exultant praise in these opening verses. Why? Because of the resources that are his in the attributes of God. And the refuge which belongs to him.

Because of his faith. And what does he do after that? Well what do you do? When you've reminded yourself of the greatness of God. And the fact that he will hide you in the shadow of the rock.

Well then you can engage perhaps in petitionary prayer. Maybe then you can give vent to your feelings of worry. Maybe then the chill wind of temptation and despondency will blow through your personality.

For that seems to be what happens with David from the seventh verse onwards. He then tells us something about the horrific nature of his problems. You can work it out by implication.

But you see he can rightly now give time to dealing with his immediate circumstances. Because he's got in perspective the greatness and the majesty and the fidelity of God. So from verses 7 to 14 there's an example of earnest petition.

And there are several ingredients to this prayer which I must raise through. It's one that comes from a heart that is humble. Hear O Lord when I cry with my voice.

Have mercy also upon me and answer me. I prefer the AV translation at this point. When I cry with my voice.

There's speech in speech isn't there? There are times when there's an intonation that's put into the voice that indicates the feeling of the heart. And when we cry to God with agony in our soul. When we give vent to our feelings.

We can believe because he's light. Because he's salvation. Because he's strength.

That he'll have mercy. And we can agonize before him on the basis of our humility and say O Lord will you answer me. The earnest petition I say comes from the humility of David's heart.

And what's more he prays intuitively. Look at the 8th verse and here I'm taking you to the NIV's translation. Which in this case is a little clearer.

My heart says of you seek his face. Your face Lord I will seek. That's certainly what is implied by David.

And the point I'm making is not academic it's important. My heart says of you seek his face. Here I am I'm engulfed in my problems.

And then I suddenly intuitively realize what God is saying to me in this situation. Here's David in a sort of acceptable religious schizophrenia. One part of him is speaking to the other part.

David you're in trouble. You're despondent. Your circumstances are not what you would have chosen.

What would God say to you in this situation? What would he say? He would say seek ye my face. How does David know that that is what God would say? Well he knows because he's spent time meditating upon the attributes of God. He has intuition into the way that the Lord wants him to cope with his circumstances.

And that intuition I say you can share in as can I in our own prayer disciplines. And so he responds immediately to his own prophetic voice. Thy face Lord will I seek.

I won't dilly-dally. Straight away I respond to what my heart tells me to do. My heart motivated by you.

And then also he prays sensitively. Look at verse 9. Hide not thy face far from me. His concern you see is that perhaps he might have done something that offended the Lord.

He's made reference to the face of God in the eighth verse. And in the days of the Orient, or rather even in the Orient to this day, the idea of someone covering their face, hiding themselves from a person, is a very powerful concept. And David's concerned that God might hide his face from him.

After all God hid his face from Saul. And David doesn't want the same situation. So he prays sensitively.

Lord, I don't want you to hide your face from me. I don't want you to be angry with me. Leave me not, neither forsake me.

Oh God of my salvation. Sensitivity here you see. Oh my friends, I'm caught in a dilemma sometimes I must admit, in my own worship and certainly in the worship that I would steer and encourage in this church.

It's the problem of over-flippancy with the problem of an exaggerated awe and rigidity which compels you to feel that you can't approach God at all. You've got two extremes. I mentioned it last Sunday evening.

Between almightiness, which on one hand causes one to think that you can never approach God, and almightiness, which reduces the Lord in stature and standing or does in the mind of the person. We're not to have a sort of cartoon theology of God. He is the great and the wonderful God.

We must always bear this in mind, as did David. But you have to balance that on the other hand with the fact that God is a God who is your light and your strength and your salvation, who wants you to come to him and talk to him and open your heart before him. Oh, to maintain this balance, I speak to younger people as well as older friends.

This is the one danger. We may be so rigid and so formal that we present a picture of this God who can't be approached at all. And that is wrong.

Or else we go to the other extreme. And without so much as tipping our cap to the Lord, we're in his presence. And we're singing, perhaps unfeelingly, just out of a sort of mechanical rote, some most precious things, some intimate longings we're giving expression to.

But we haven't quite worked out that this is the holy and the great God who requires from us thought. And who might look into our hearts and see there that same, want to see there that same sensitivity as David had. But finally David prays believingly in the 10th and 11th verses.

When my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Lord, this is what I believe.

And he goes on into the 12th verse too. With the implication that God will always respond to him at the point of his need. So you see how David's petitions follow on his praises.

He's got the Lord in his understanding, in some perspective. He's realized something of the attributes of God. He's praised the Lord for the resources that are his and for the refuge to which he can turn.

And now he brings the deep desires of his heart before the Lord. And the exultant praise is followed by earnest petition. And I tell you the same can obtain for you and for me.

As you scale this high mountain of the 27th Psalm. The concluding verses in the NIV are, I am still 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.

May we all take heart in God this morning. Amen. We commit ourselves to you.

Asking that the heights of the 27th Psalm may be scaled by each one of us. Not only academically but experimentally. Prepare our hearts now as we come around this table in a moment or so.

For Jesus' sake. Amen.