Psalms 27:1 - Meaning and Application

We may notice here, first, the lively faith with which David triumphs in God, gives glory to God’s holy name, and rests in his own share in him.

“The Lord is my light.” David’s people called him the light of Israel (2 Samuel 21:17). He was indeed a bright and useful man, but he knew that his light was borrowed. Whatever light God gave him, he passed on to others. So he says, “The Lord is my light.” God is light to his people. He shows them the way when they are confused, and he comforts and gladdens their hearts when they are sad. By his light they now walk in life, and by that same light they hope to see light forever.

“He is my salvation,” meaning, “In him I am safe, and by him I will be saved.” He is also “the strength of my life.” That means he is not only the protector of a life in danger, keeping it from being killed, but also the strength of a weak and fading life, keeping it from sinking, failing, or dying away. God, who is a believer’s light, is also the strength of his life. We live and move not only by him, but in him. So let us strengthen ourselves in God.

Second, we see David’s fearless courage over his enemies. No courage is like faith’s courage. If God is for him, who can be against him? “Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid?” If Almighty God guards him, he has no reason to fear. If he truly knows that, he will not want to fear. If God is his light, he fears no darkness. If God is his salvation, he fears no trouble.

He also triumphs over enemies already defeated (Psalm 27:2). They came against him, eager to destroy him completely, and they fell. It is not said, “He struck them down and they fell,” but, “They stumbled and fell.” They were so confused and weakened that they could not carry out their plan. In the same way, those who came to arrest Christ and were stopped by a word were made to fall back to the ground (John 18:6). The fall of some enemies of God’s people is a sign that all of them will finally be conquered.

So, even though these enemies have fallen, David is not afraid of the rest. “Though a host should camp against me,” he says, “my heart shall not fear.” Many enemies cannot harm us if the Lord of hosts protects us. More than that, because he is sure God is for him, “I will be confident.”

He is confident of two things. First, that he will be safe. “In the time of trouble he shall hide me.” God will set him beyond danger, and beyond the fear of it. God does not only find a shelter for his people in trouble, as he did for Baruch (Jeremiah 36:26). He himself becomes their hiding place (Psalm 32:7). His providence may keep them safe, and at the very least his grace will keep them calm. His name is a strong tower, into which believers run by faith (Proverbs 18:10).

“He shall hide me,” David says, “not in the strongholds of En-gedi” (1 Samuel 23:29), but in the secret place of his tabernacle. God’s gracious presence, his power, his promises, his readiness to hear prayer, and the witness of his Spirit in believers’ hearts, these are the secret place of his tabernacle. There the saints find holy safety and quietness of mind. It sets them on a rock that will not sink under them. It even sets them on a high rock, above the raging waves of a stormy sea, out of reach of harm, a rock higher than we are (Psalm 61:2).

Second, he is confident that he will be victorious (Psalm 27:6). “Now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies.” That means not only that they cannot reach him with their weapons, but also that he will be raised up to rule over them. By faith in God’s promise, David triumphs before the victory. He is as sure of the crown as if it were already on his head.

Third, we see his earnest prayer for steady fellowship with God in holy worship (Psalm 27:4). His confidence in God was greatly encouraged by his own deep love for God and for God’s worship. He knew he was happiest when he was doing his duty and growing in his knowledge of God. If our hearts can testify that we delight in God more than in any creature, that should strengthen our trust in him. It shows that we belong to those whom he protects as his own.

This may also mean that David wanted to live in the house of the Lord so that he might be safe from the enemies around him. Surrounded by threats, he does not say that he wants more soldiers, or a stronger city, or a better fortress. He says that he wants to dwell in the house of the Lord, and then he is content.

Notice what he desired, to dwell in the house of the Lord. The priests had their dwelling places in the courts of God’s house, and David wished that he had been one of them. Some may look down on God’s ministers, but one of the greatest kings who ever lived would gladly have taken his place among them. More likely, he means that he longed to attend God’s public worship regularly and faithfully, along with the rest of God’s people, as each day required.

He longed for an end to the wars he was fighting, not so he could live comfortably in his own palace, but so he could have freedom and time to keep God’s courts. In a similar way, Hezekiah, a true son of David, wanted his health restored, not so he could return to the throne of judgment, but so he could go up to the house of the Lord (Isaiah 38:22). All God’s children desire to dwell in God’s house. Where else should they live? Not as a passing traveler who stays only for a night, nor as a servant who does not remain in the house forever, but all the days of their life, since the Son remains forever there. If we hope to spend eternity praising God, surely we should make that the work of our present life.

He also desired this very strongly. “This is the one thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek after.” If he were to ask only one thing from God, this would be it, because he valued it above everything else. He wanted it as a good thing, and he asked for it from the Lord as a gift and a sign of his favor. Having fixed his heart on this as the one needful thing, he kept seeking it. He kept praying for it, and he ordered his affairs so that he might have this freedom and opportunity. Those who truly desire fellowship with God will apply themselves with diligence to seek it.

What he had in view was this: he wanted to dwell in God’s house, not for the rich food at the sacrifices, or for the music and singing there, but to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to ask for guidance in his temple.

He wanted to come into God’s courts for two reasons. First, he wanted the joy of thinking about God. David knew something of the beauty of the Lord, the deep and perfect loveliness of God’s being and qualities. His holiness is his beauty (Psalm 110:3), and his goodness is his beauty (Zechariah 9:17). The full harmony of all God’s attributes is the beauty of his nature.

With the eye of faith and holy love, we can look on this beauty with delight. We see more and more in it what is lovely and what is amazing. When we give careful thought to God’s glorious excellence, and enjoy the signs of his special favor toward us, this is the sight of the beauty of the Lord that David longed for. We can have that in God’s ordinances, because there he makes himself known.

Second, David wanted to be taught what duty God required of him. So he would seek God’s direction in the temple. In effect, he was asking, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” For the sake of these two things, he desired that one thing: to live in the house of the Lord all his life. Blessed are those who do that. They will keep praising him (Psalm 84:4), both by speaking to him and by listening to him.

Mary sitting at Christ’s feet to hear his word is what Christ called the one necessary thing, and the good part. If David could have a place in God’s house, he expected two great benefits from it. First, he would be calm and safe there. Trouble would not find him, because God would hide him in a secret place, and trouble would not reach him, because God would set him high above danger (Psalm 27:5). Joash, one of David’s descendants and a king of Judah, was hidden in the house of the Lord for six years, and there he was not only kept from death, but preserved for the throne (2 Kings 11:3). Nehemiah also thought the temple was a safe place to hide in (Nehemiah 6:10). Still, the safety of believers is not in the walls of the temple, but in the God of the temple and in communion with him.

Second, he would be joyful and full of praise there. He would offer sacrifices of joy (Psalm 27:6), because God’s service pays its own reward. There he would sing, yes, he would sing praises to the Lord. Whatever gives us joy should also lead us to praise. When we attend on God in holy worship, we should be full of joy and praise. It honors our God when we sing in his ways, and whenever God lifts us above our enemies, we should lift him up in our praise. Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph (2 Corinthians 2:14).