One Thing to Seek: A Meditation on Psalm 27 for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost

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?

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes,

came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear:

though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

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 enquire in his temple.

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.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me:

therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;

I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice:

have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face;

my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

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.

When my father and my mother forsake me,

then the Lord will take me up.

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies:

for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:

wait, I say, on the Lord.

 

King David, living roughly 1000 years before the time of Jesus’ Incarnation, had certainly seen his share of enemies.  As a child, he stood before the massing armies of Philistia to defeat their champion Goliath in mortal combat; as a young man, after King Saul lost his mind and his anointing from God, he was pursued by palace intrigue and nearly murdered multiple times; having fought for his country, his leaders attacked him as a threat to their ambitions, leading him into exile; pursued by evil political forces, he lived as a refugee in the deserts; after ascending to the throne, he fought almost constantly to secure the nation of Israel against every rising enemy; and near the end of his life, his various sons vied for the throne before he established Solomon as his heir.  Yet throughout his life of war and hardship, of service to God and His people, of virtuous success and calamitous vice, his heart was rooted in God his Savior.  He was a man of faith and repentance, of courage and conviction, and one who knew from whence his hope must come.

 

David’s life and hope are instructive for every generation, and not just to kings.  It is important to note that David’s anointing was particular to him for his time and his work, and not every person is anointed by God to be a warrior king, nor to be the foreshadowing and forefather of the great Messiah.  Yet the faith of David is pertinent to all souls in every time and every place, because every person will find themselves surrounded by enemies at some point in their lives.  Indeed, the enemies of mankind, those who pursue the destruction and desecration of life in a suicidal rebellion against the Author of Life, are near at hand no matter where a person goes in this world.  It was true in the time of David, just at it was in the time of Abraham and Moses before him, and in the times of the Prophets and Apostles which came after him.  David, like each person who is born into this fallen world, is created and appointed by God for their time and their place, and each person will be beset by enemies of their Creator until their time in this world is done.  As soon as life is conceived, death lurks at the door of the womb, and the agents of death will not relent in their pursuit until each life ended, either sooner or later.  Death, empowered by the sinful nature inherited by each fallen person, and weaponized by the devil to terrify every fallen soul, will pursue and overtake us all.  It is an enemy we cannot escape, one which surrounds us everywhere we go.

 

In this world, though all people are hunted by death, not all embrace it as an ally.  In our day and age, there are those who think death is a good tool of control for their enemies, for the securing of their own temporary comfort, or the establishment of political empire.  There are those who use it to murder children and prevent the responsibilities of parenthood; those who unleash evil criminals onto the streets to torment and destroy the lives of others; those who foment riots and insurrections to forward political ambitions; those who poison the earth and whole communities to eek out a few dollars more profit; those who promote assassinations and fire bombings and beatings of the defenseless and the shoving of unsuspecting travelers onto the railways of oncoming subway trains; those who burn churches which declare ancient truth against contemporary lies, who destroy the reputations and livelihoods of honest workers, those who corrupt the morals of children, and destroy the foundations of civilization.  These forces have been with us ever since we unleashed them on the world through our fall into sin, and they will be harassing us until the Last Day.  Until then, God has given us a choice as to how we will meet them:  either in His strength and glory by grace through faith in Christ alone, or in the fear and turpitude of our own weak bodies and minds.

 

Like David, the Word and Spirit of the Lord come to each of us in our times and places, and call us to seek our Savior first above all things.  God knows that the enemies we have acquired by our own sin, we cannot defeat—so He has defeated them for us.  It is Christ alone who has descended from heavenly glory to take our human nature into His divinity, to be surrounded and hounded and murdered in our place, that He might take the sins of the whole world upon Himself and make satisfaction for us.  It is Christ alone who has gained the victory over sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil by rising from the dead, breathing upon His people a peace which can only come through His forgiveness and grace.  Jesus alone is the Word of Life which swallows up death, which if any man will hold by faith, even if he die, he will live forever in Him.  Jesus alone is the One who stands with us when we are surrounded by the countless enemies of life, shepherding us through the valley of the shadow of death, where we need fear no evil.  Jesus is the one who strengthens our hands and feet for the duty of service we are called to give according to our vocations, and steels our minds with courage to meet any foe.  Jesus Christ, the Lord of Hosts, Victor over every enemy of man, is the One whose face we are called to seek, and the One to whom our hearts respond, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

 

If the enemies of life have surrounded you, be of good cheer:  your Savior is close to you, to lead and to guide you, and to give you the victory He has won for you through His Cross.  He has faced all your enemies and vanquished them, that at His visage and before His Word every knee shall bow and every mouth shall confess that Jesus is truly Lord of all.  His life has become your life, His suffering your suffering, His resurrection your resurrection, His strength and compassion and mercy and forgiveness, all yours.  By grace through faith in Jesus alone, your head shall be lifted over every craven enemy of life, and you shall dwell secure in Him no matter where your steps take you in this life and the next.  With David we wait upon the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and in Him we rejoice, for:

 

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?

 

Amen.