Wait and Fear Not

Introduction

last whole week is not a good week.

lament to God. the power of lament psalm. How the psalmist encounter God in his lament.

one of the best-known and most comforting psalms in the Psalter. But it is hard to know whether it is chiefly a psalm of confidence, written against the dark background of David’s many enemies, or chiefly a lament in which David cries out for help against implacable foes. The reason for the confusion is obvious. The first half of the psalm (vv. 1–6) exudes confidence. The second half (vv. 7–14) is a very moving prayer. these two apparently opposing moods are also often in us, frequently at the same time or at nearly the same time. Don’t you find that you are often both confident and anxious, trusting and fearful, or at least that your mood swings easily from one to the other? I do. It is part of what it means to be a weak human being. Since that is true of us, it should be a comfort to realize that it was also true of David. We can be instructed by what he did at such times

Chiastic structure - v8 “face is sought”, in which David prayed “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

there are fear, but we can fear of nothing. David expressed his unquestioning loyalty and trust.

three stanze in this psalm

our confidence - Fear not, for who the Lord is for us (v1-3)

David’s confidence lies not in his own abilities or in the strength of his forces, but in the Lord. He has experienced the Lord’s presence and describes it by three metaphors - light, salvation and stronghold.

He is our light (1a) - When any of us think of God, perhaps trying to visualize him, the best we can do is to think of light. natural figure for almost everything that is positive. common figure for comfort. this verse is the only direct application of the name light to God in the Old Testament.

God is a light to his people, to show them the way when they are in doubt, to comfort and rejoice their hearts when they are in sorrow. It is in his light that they now walk on in their way, and in his light they hope to see light for ever

We have to go to the New Testament to find a good parallel, and when we do, we find that there light is a name for Jesus Christ: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.… The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world” (John 1:5, 9). John, who makes this identification, also says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all”.

since David is thinking about his enemies and is seeking deliverance from them, Craigie is probably right when he says, “The psalmist is affirming that even in the darkness of the terrible threat of war, he has no fear, for God is the light that can dispel such fearful darkness.”

He is our salvation (1a) - The Hebrew word for salvation means “deliverance” explicitly, and again this probably has to do with deliverance from the king’s immediate enemies.

He is our stronghold (1b) - security against all violence. The military images and the concerns they represent continue in the third of these great images for God, namely, that he is a refuge or stronghold. David clearly needed a refuge from his foes. He had had it in the past. Therefore, he will not fear any future dangers. Even if his foes should attack, an army should besiege him, or war should break out against the nation, David will not fear as long as God is his stronghold.

On the other hand, we have to say that, although in this setting these three images for God all probably have to do with military deliverance and protection, they also rightly suggest even greater meanings to us. Light speaks of spiritual understanding. Salvation points to the greatest of all deliverances, namely, deliverance from sin by the death of Jesus Christ. Stronghold refers to that spiritual refuge from the pains and buffetings of life which God himself is for his people. For us this is a well-rounded statement of God’s manifold spiritual blessings, and it has generally been so understood. John Stott puts our understanding well when he says, “The Lord is my light, to guide me; my salvation, to deliver me; and the stronghold of my life, in whom I take refuge.”

He is our enemies’ enemy (2)

He is our greatest army (3)

No night of sorrow can be so dark, no evil so fearful, no enemy so dreadful as to cause those to tremble, despair, and perish, who have God for their Light, for their salvation, for the stronghold of their life. Such a man overcomes in all his troubles, so much so that even in his days of suffering, at times, in the confidence of Divine assistance, a triumphant tone may be heard in his prayers, whence arise his fearlessness, his heroism, his certainty of victory in the midst of all his dangers, struggles, and calamities.

the whole idea is the presence of God. Many people have focus wrongly on God’s protection, rather than His presence. We shoudl learn to know the strength of being near to God.

we could stay calm like a baby lying in mother’s arm

Our desire - Fear not, for where the Lord secure us (v4-6)

Boldness of faith is not naive belief. The external difficulties are insignificant in comparison with the psalmist’s deep desire to experience more fully the presence of God. In God’s presence fear is banished

We are in His house & temple (v4) - This second stanza of the psalm expresses David’s one great desire, which is to “dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of [his] life”. This is nt referring to the temple in heaven, but the earthly tabernacle which represent the presence of God. His presence through our worship. This is not to be taken literally, or to be explained of the daily visiting the house of God, (most interpreters) especially as even the Levitical priests did not dwell in the temple. It is a figurative expression of the relation to God described above.

What it is he desires—to dwell in the house of the Lord. In the courts of God’s house the priests had their lodgings, and David wished he had been one of them. Disdainfully as some look upon God’s ministers, one of the greatest and best of kings that ever was would gladly have taken his lot, have taken his lodging, among them. Or, rather, he desires that he might duly and constantly attend on the public service of God, with other faithful Israelites, according as the duty of every day required. He longed to see an end of the wars in which he was now engaged, not that he might live at ease in his own palace, but that he might have leisure and liberty for a constant attendance in God’s courts.

The psalmist desires to dwell in the temple of God for the rest of his life (cf. 15:1; 23:4–6). The temple was the visible expression of God’s presence and was sought after by the godly. While sitting in God’s temple, he planned to “gaze” on the Lord’s beauty and to “seek” (inquire after) him in his temple. In the act of gazing on the Lord’s beauty, the psalmist submits himself fully to experience the beneficent fellowship with God. God’s “beauty” is an expression of his goodness to his people (cf. 16:11; 90:17). When Moses saw his glory, the Lord revealed his perfections of love and compassion (Ex 34:5–6). The “beauty” of the Lord is his favor toward his own

we are safe in His dwelling (5a). God will not only find out a shelter for his people in distress (as he did Jer. 36:26), but he will himself be their hiding-place, Ps. 32:7. His providence will, it may be, keep them safe; at least his grace will make them easy. His name is the strong tower into which by faith they run, Prov. 18:10. “He shall hide me, not in the strongholds of En-gedi (1 Sa. 23:29), but in the secret of his tabernacle.” The gracious presence of God, his power, his promise, his readiness to hear prayer, the witness of his Spirit in the hearts of his people—these are the secret of his tabernacle, and in these the saints find cause for that holy security and serenity of mind in which they dwell at ease

We are in His sacred shelter & sacred tent (5b) - At this point, God’s house was still a tent, the tent David erected for the ark. a place of safety for those who seek refuge, who find there shelter and protection against the pursuit of their enemies

Quite a few commentators seem to fall all over themselves trying to prove that this was not a literal desire for God’s house but rather a matter of spiritual fellowship. I would argue to the contrary that, although there is some truth in this, basically it is an anachronistic and misleading distinction.

C. S. Lewis has unusual sensitivity for what is going on in statements like this (about David’s desire to “gaze upon the beauty of the Lord … in his temple”), born of his own long and perceptive study of literature; I appeal to him here. He begins by acknowledging the way we naturally distinguish between the forms of religion and the spiritual reality behind it. We think of an awareness of God or of God’s qualities entirely apart from the tangible elements of worship. But, says Lewis, for the ancients, including the ancient Jews, religion was not like that. The tangible and the intangible were not separated for them but rather were joined. They actually seemed to experience God in the temple. Thus their appetite for God was something to be satisfied almost physically. “Their longing to go up to Jerusalem and ‘appear before the presence of God’ is like a physical thirst (Ps. 42). From Jerusalem His presence flashes out ‘in perfect beauty’ (Ps. 50:2). Lacking that encounter with Him, their souls are parched like a waterless countryside (Ps. 63:2). They crave to be ‘satisfied with the pleasures’ of His house (Ps. 65:4). Only there can they be at ease, like a bird in the nest (Ps. 84:3). One day of those ‘pleasures’ is better than a lifetime spent elsewhere (Ps. 10).”

I am aware, as was Lewis, that we live in a different time and are ourselves very different. We remember how Jesus said, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). But still, I believe Lewis is also right when he reminds us that we have probably swung too far to the other extreme and would do well to recover something of this robust Old Testament worship.

Let me put it like this. There is something to be experienced of God in church that it is not quite so easy to experience elsewhere. Otherwise, why have churches? If it is only instruction we need, we can get that as well by an audio tape or a book. If it is only fellowship, we can find that equally well, perhaps better, in a small home gathering. There is something to be said for the sheer physical singing of the hymns, the sitting in the pews, the actual looking to the pulpit and gazing on the pulpit Bible as it is expounded, the tasting of the sacrament, and the very atmosphere of the place set apart for the worship of God that is spiritually beneficial. Isn’t that true? Haven’t you found a sense of God’s presence simply by being in God’s house? I do not mean to deny that God can (and should) be worshiped elsewhere. But I am suggesting that the actual physical worship of God in the company of other believers can be almost sacramental.

We are set high upon a rock (5c) - The rock is God himself, who is always David’s final refuge. David means that his spirit will find a refuge with God in times of trouble, not (as some Jewish expositors argue) that he will actually hide from his enemies inside the tabernacle

All these are the image of where God is. We are where He is. Though I am exercised with many troubles, there is but one thing that I am very solicitous for, or desirous of, and that is not victory and triumphs over all mine enemies, assured peace and settlement in my throne, the wealth, and pleasure, and glory of enlarging or ruling my empire: or if I have any desire to any of those things, it is chiefly that I may not be disturbed in or driven from the sanctuary and worship of God as I have been, but may have opportunity of constant attendance upon God; that there I may exercise and delight myself in the contemplation of thy amiable and glorious majesty, and of the infinite wisdom, holiness, justice, truth, grace, and mercy, and other perfections, which though hid in a great measure from the world, are clearly manifested in thy church and ordinances

a queit and secure place in a noisy world.

our prayer - Fear not, for how the Lord hears us (v7-12)

The latter half of Psalm 27 begins with verse 7, as I pointed out earlier, and it is here that we find the abrupt change of language, structure, and tone I also mentioned. The verbs change from the first or third person to the second. The earlier affirmations become prayers. The mood changes from confidence to earnest entreaty.

He has mecy on us and answer us (7)

He reveals His face towards us (do not hide His face) (9) - God removes His wrath.

He accepts and embraces us (do not reject nor forsake) (9&10) - most people’s attention is directed to verse 10 which says, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” This is partially because being forsaken by a parent is so poignant and partially because so many people have experienced disappointment from a parent to some degree. There is another reason why we are naturally drawn to verse 10, however, and that is because the idea of a rightly functioning parent is ideally suited to everything David notes in this section that he is seeking from God. What do we seek from a parent after all? We look to a parent to receive, listen to, guide, and protect us, don’t we? Well, that is exactly what David is seeking from God in these verses.

We seek acceptance. In the world, we experience much rejection. Parents reject children; children reject parents. Husbands reject wives, and wives, husbands. We are rejected by erstwhile friends, potential employers, people we are courting, and others in dozens of diverse situations. Most of us experience rejection from someone almost every day. But God does not refuse us. David prays, “Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger.… Do not reject me or forsake me” (v. 9), and he knows, even as he prays, that God will not forsake him. God has accepted him in the past. He will continue to accept him. “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me,” he writes (v. 10).

Spurgeon said, “These dear relations will be the last to desert me, but if the milk of human kindness should dry up even from their breasts, there is a Father who never forgets.” He added, “Some of the greatest of saints have been cast out by their families.”

We seek to be heard. Sometimes children talk to us only because they want to be listened to, not really caring what we say in response, and unfortunately many parents are too busy to listen. Is God ever too busy to listen when we speak to him? Never! Why don’t we do it more often then? The reason is that we are too busy, not God. Or perhaps the reason is our sin or unbelief. Perhaps we do not really believe that God is a true, listening parent, a parent who says: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7).

We seek guidance. Which of us knows the way to walk so we will be kept out of sin and make progress in the way of righteousness? No one! We no more know how to live our lives for God than children know how to avoid danger and care for themselves and others. They need to be taught, as do we. In God we have one who can be turned to for guidance. David prays, “Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors” (v. 11). He prays confidently because he knows that God will do it.

We seek protection. The fourth thing a child looks for in a parent is protection, and David is certainly seeking this of the Lord because of his many enemies. They are the background of the psalm, being mentioned as early as verse 2 and being suggested even in verse 1 (“whom shall I fear?… of whom shall I be afraid?”). They are the bullies of the neighborhood, and David needs the protecting presence of God just as a small child needs his father in such circumstances.

He delivers us our of false witnesses and malicious accusations. (12)

Conclusion (v13-14)

Be strong and wait for the Lord. The things he is praying for (and for which we pray) do not always come to us at once. God has his timings, which are not ours, and therefore what we pray for and need is sometimes delayed. What then? Are we to despair of having answers, to lose confidence? Not at all! We simply need to wait. “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (v. 14). If some wealthy person promised to give you an expensive gift, wouldn’t you wait for it expectantly? If you were in trouble and a king were coming to your aid, wouldn’t you be alert for his appearance? God is just such a generous benefactor and powerful king. He is well worth waiting for. It is a privilege to wait for him.

MSG stay with God, take heart, don’t quit. The whole psalm focuses on one single important theme - God’s presence. David’s confidence in God’s presence and His continuous prayer for God’s presence.

The psalmist desires to dwell in the temple of God for the rest of his life (cf. 15:1; 23:4–6). The temple was the visible expression of God’s presence and was sought after by the godly. While sitting in God’s temple, he planned to “gaze” on the Lord’s beauty and to “seek” (inquire after) him in his temple. In the act of gazing on the Lord’s beauty, the psalmist submits himself fully to experience the beneficent fellowship with God. God’s “beauty” is an expression of his goodness to his people (cf. 16:11; 90:17). When Moses saw his glory, the Lord revealed his perfections of love and compassion (Ex 34:5–6). The “beauty” of the Lord is his favor toward his own

VanGemeren, W. A. (2008). Psalms. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms (Revised Edition) (Vol. 5, p. 283). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.