Psalms 27:7 - Meaning and Application

David shows, first, his deep desire for God through many prayers. If he cannot go up to the house of the Lord right now, he can still find his way to the throne of grace through prayer. He asks humbly because he firmly believes he will be heard: “Hear, Lord, when I cry, not only with my heart, but also with my voice.” He also asks for a peaceful answer, not because he deserves it, but because of God’s kindness: “Be merciful to me and answer me” (Psalm 27:7). If we pray with faith, God will graciously hear and answer.

David also holds on to God’s kind invitation to pray (Psalm 27:8). It is arrogant for us to come before the King of kings without being called, and we cannot come with confidence unless he holds out the golden scepter, a sign of welcome. So when David prays, he fixes his thoughts on God’s call to come to the throne of grace, and he reverently touches, as it were, the top of that golden scepter. In the original, the verse begins, “My heart said to you,” or “of you,” “Seek my face.” He thought over that call and preached it back to himself, and that is the best kind of preaching, hearing twice what God speaks once. Then he answers, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

This shows the true nature of worship, it is seeking the face of God. That is what God commands, “Seek my face.” He wants us to seek him for himself and to make his favor our highest good. That is also the saint’s purpose and desire: “Your face, Lord, will I seek, and nothing less will satisfy me.” The open hand of God is enough for other living things (Psalm 145:16), but only the shining of his face will satisfy a living soul (Psalm 4:6, Psalm 4:7). God’s invitation is kind and gracious: “Seek my face.” It is more than permission, it is a command, and the command itself carries a promise that we will find him, because he is too kind to say, “Seek me in vain.”

God calls us to seek his face when we turn to him in conversion and when we walk with him in fellowship. He calls through the quiet work of his Spirit within us, through his Word, through regular times of worship, and through special events in his providence, both kind and painful. When we are foolishly serving false hopes, God is lovingly calling us to seek our true good in him. A gracious heart responds at once: “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” The call is general, “Seek my face,” but like David, we must make it personal, “I will seek it.” God’s Word does us no good if we pass it on to others and do not receive it ourselves.

David then becomes very specific in his requests. He asks for God’s favor, that God would not hide his face from him (Psalm 27:9). He says, in effect, “Your face, Lord, I will seek, because you have commanded it, so do not hide your face from me. Let me not lose the comforting sense of your favor. Love me, and let me know that you love me. Do not push me away in anger.” He knows he has deserved God’s displeasure, yet he asks that God would not cast him off from his presence, because that would be hell itself.

He also asks that God would keep his presence with him. “You have been my help before,” he says, “and you are the God who saves me, so where else can I go but to you? Do not leave me or abandon me. If you withdraw the power that helps me, I am helpless. If you withdraw the signs of your good will, I am comfortless.” He then asks for divine guidance (Psalm 27:11): “Teach me your way, Lord. Help me understand what your providences mean, and make them plain to me. Show me my duty in every doubtful case, so I do not mistake it. Lead me in the right way, and help me walk in it with confidence.” It is not cleverness, but plain honesty, that keeps us in the way of duty.

He asks to be guided in a straight path because of his enemies, or, as the margin says, his watchers. His enemies watched for him to stumble, so they could find a charge against him. Saul watched David closely (1 Samuel 18:9). This made him pray all the more, “Lord, lead me in a straight path, so they have nothing evil, or nothing that looks evil, to accuse me of.”

He also asks for protection (Psalm 27:12): “Do not give me over to my enemies’ will. Lord, do not let them succeed, because what they want is my life, and they want it in a way I cannot stop except by your power over their consciences. False witnesses have risen against me. They want more than my reputation or my property, they breathe out cruelty. They thirst for blood, precious blood.” In this, David was a type of Christ, for false witnesses rose against him too, and men who breathed out cruelty. Yet though Christ was handed over to their wicked hands, he was not handed over to their will, because they could not stop his exaltation.

Second, David shows his trust in God. He believes that God will help and support him when every other help fails (Psalm 27:10). “When my father and mother forsake me,” he says, meaning the closest and dearest people in the world, from whom he had the most reason to expect help, whether they died, were far away, were unable to help, or were unkind or forgetful, “then the Lord will take me up.” He will receive me like a poor wandering sheep and save me from destruction. God’s time to help those who trust him is when all other helpers are gone, because that brings him honor and gives them comfort. With him the fatherless find mercy. This promise has often proved true in a very literal way, as God has taken forsaken orphans under his special care and raised up help for them in unexpected ways. God is a surer and better friend than any earthly parent can be.

David also trusts that in due time he will see God’s goodness (Psalm 27:13). He believes he will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, and if he had not believed that, he would have fainted under his troubles. Even the best believers can grow weak when their troubles become heavy and long. Their spirits can be overwhelmed, and their body and heart can fail.

Faith is a powerful comfort. It keeps people from sinking under their load and from giving up hope of help. It keeps them hoping, praying, and waiting, and it also keeps their thoughts of God good and their own hearts steady.

What belief kept David from losing heart? It was the belief that he would see the goodness of the Lord, even though it now seemed far off. Those who walk by faith in God’s goodness will, in time, see that goodness for themselves. David hoped to see it in the land of the living, which can mean several things.

It may mean this present world, where he would outlive his troubles and not be destroyed by them. His comfort was not mainly that he would still be alive, but that he would see God’s goodness while he was alive. For a godly person, that is what makes every earthly blessing truly sweet.

It may also mean the land of Canaan, especially Jerusalem, where God’s living words were known and heard. Compared with the nations around them, who were dead in sin, Israel could be called the land of the living. There God made himself known, and David hoped to see his goodness there (2 Samuel 15:25-26).

Or it may mean heaven. That alone can truly be called the land of the living, because there is no more death there. This world is really the land of dying. Nothing helps us stand through present troubles more than believing hope in eternal life, together with glimpses of that glory and foretastes of those joys.

In the meantime, David expected strength to carry his burden. Whether he was speaking to himself or to others, the comfort is the same: God will strengthen your heart and support your spirit, and then your spirit can bear what weak flesh cannot. In that strength, keep close to God and to your duty. Wait on the Lord by faith, prayer, and humble surrender to his will. Keep waiting on the Lord, and do not grow careless in your devotion.

Also, keep your courage in the face of danger and hardship. Be of good courage, let your heart be fixed on God, and stay your mind on him. Then do not let these troubles move you. Those who wait on the Lord have every reason to be brave.