*This is another installment in an ongoing series of blogs from the book of Psalms. We hope that these bless you.

By Bunni Pounds

“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 came against me
         To eat up my flesh, 
         My enemies and foes, 
         They stumbled and fell.
 Though an army may encamp against me,
         My heart shall not fear; 
         Though war may rise against me, 
         In this I will be confident.” (Verses 1-3)

I never thought much about enemies until I entered the political world fifteen years ago. I am sure I have always had them because of my boldness in speaking the truth about Jesus; but when I started standing up for what I believe in - in the midst of the political arena, enemies started arising. Out of that tension came an increased boldness to stand up for everything I believe in, which was not just limited to pro-life policies, traditional marriage, and an immoral national debt - but my belief that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. I believe the person of the Holy Spirit is real and active in the church today. I believe people can be free from addictions, destructive lifestyles, and past abuse. Most of these beliefs put me into a chasm where I can be misunderstood and possibly make enemies. I am 100% positive that I have enemies now. 

David wrote Psalm 27 when King Saul was trying to chase him down and kill him. All David had done was play his harp before the King. He played beautiful music and the Spirit of God would wash over Saul so the demonic spirits that controlled him would calm down for a few minutes. That was the extent of it. David was doing Saul a favor, right?

The issue or problem with David was that he was chosen and anointed by God to be king, and deep down in Saul’s heart, he knew it. Saul knew that he had been rejected by God because of his disobedience. David was appointed by God to succeed him as king. This made Saul’s anger go through the roof, and he pursued David like a wild animal. It became so dangerous that David had to hide in deserts and caves and continually had to move from place to place.

David was confident even in the midst of the enemies because he knew that “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?” (vs. 1)

“Though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident.” (vs. 3). 

In the midst of political wars, spiritual wars, family wars, or natural wars, we can rest knowing that the Lord is the strength of our lives.

I Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 

There is no circumstance that we go through that God isn’t aware of, and He is always with us in the midst of it. He will not give us more than we can handle. Through His strength, we can remain strong. He is faithful in the midst of every trial, every plague, and every enemy. God will not give us more than we can bear to endure. That is an incredible promise.

The ultimate fear that we face on this earth is death. The good news is that Jesus conquered death for us, as well - dying on the cross and rising from the dead, so that we can live forever with Him. Death is no longer an enemy of God. Jesus holds the keys of death and hell. (Revelation 1:18)

In Philippians 1:21, Paul says, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” If that is true, then not even death is something that we should fear. We can rest in our strength found daily in God the Father. “Whom shall I fear?” The answer that David was seeking is NOTHING – not even death. 

“One thing I have desired of the LORD,
         That will I seek: 
         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.
 For in the time of trouble
         He shall hide me in His pavilion; 
         In the secret place of His tabernacle 
         He shall hide me; 
         He shall set me high upon a rock. 
 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
         Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; 
         I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.” (Verses 4 –6)

When you enter into presence of God, there is nothing else like it. David had a small glimpse of the power of the presence of God and that taste caused him to seek it with everything he had. David knew that if he offered praises to God that God Himself would lift him above the fears, above the hurts, and above his enemies. 

That is the attitude that we must have when we are in the midst of trials and enemies, even when we are just living our daily lives.  Jesus is worthy of our seeking! His beauty and wisdom is something worthy to seek after.  We need to inquire in His temple – His presence – for all that we have need of.

“In the time of trouble”, God can lift us up “high upon a rock” and “hide” us from the storms of life and the accusations of the enemies around us. The key is offering praises and thanksgiving to God even in the midst of this intense season and running into His presence with our arms and our hearts wide open.

David knew that the ultimate place of peace and rest for his soul was in the presence of God. He found the presence of God through praise. Praise is the open door into the presence of God, and we can praise anywhere – in our cars, in our offices, walking in our neighborhoods. Yes - anywhere. 

Years ago, I wrote a song where the chorus goes – “Every day I walk with You beside You. Every hour I can call out Your name. In a minute You can change my emotions. In a second I can fall to my knees and worship You.” Every second of every minute of every hour of every day is time that we can spend in the presence of the Lord – if we desire to go there.

“Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!
         Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
 When You said, “Seek My face,”
         My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”
 Do not hide Your face from me;
         Do not turn Your servant away in anger; 
         You have been my help; 
         Do not leave me nor forsake me, 
         O God of my salvation.
  When my father and my mother forsake me,
         Then the LORD will take care of me.” (Verses 7 -10)

In 1 Samuel 16, God sends the prophet Samuel to Jesse’s house to anoint a new king. Jesse brings out his firstborn son, Eliab, most likely his favorite child. Eliab was good looking and charismatic in his personality and this is what his father, Jesse said about him, “Surely the Lord’s anointing is upon him.” (I Sam. 16:6). But Eliab was not the one that God had chosen, so his father Jesse went back to the drawing board.

He brought out seven of his sons to be presented before Samuel, not even THINKING about David. He was sure that one of these sons was the one that God had chosen. What rejection that David must have felt! He was left out and his father didn’t esteem him enough to call him from the fields and bring him to the family party. It took Samuel commanding Jesse to send for his other son before his father sent someone to fetch David. 

The point of this story is simple - people will disappoint us. Fathers and mothers can forsake us. David says here in this Psalm in verse 10, “WHEN my father and mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me.” Let’s just say that even with the best of the best parents, they will at some point, disappoint us, but even if the worse befalls us, we can overcome.  We don’t have an excuse to live in depression and fear. David said - even in the midst of the depth of rejection– “the Lord will take care of me.” That is the truth! That is the Word of God.

David used the rejection he was feeling to motivate him to seek God. He turned the rejection around and used it for good. He ran after God with all his heart, knowing deep down in his soul that God would never leave him or forsake him. He cried out to God, sharing the true feelings of hurt and disappointment in his heart. He was honest with the God that he knew loved him. 

David looked past the words that people spoke over him to the truth and the Word of God. He clung to the truth, and that is what we must do as well. We must cling to the truth of what God says about us - His eternal love for us in the midst of rejection and fears. The truth is “He will never leave us or forsake us.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)

We see here in Psalm 27 also that God commands us to seek Him. This is not a request – it is a command. In the middle of every command that God gives, He gives us the ability and the grace to do it. 

My husband, Tim, was a drug addict for seven years of his life. From the age of 17 to 23 - he stole, lied, lived on people’s couches and survived day to day in addiction and despair. Through several miraculous turn of events, Tim had a moment when he knew that he couldn’t live this life anymore. He knew he wasn’t going to survive and that he was following the wrong path for his life. 

One day after a demonic dream, the fear of death and depression overtaking him, he heard a voice, almost as if it was audible, say, “Tim, if you don’t seek Me, you will die.” 

He knew it was God.

To us that sounds like a heavy statement, but to Tim at that time, he knew he was going to die if he didn’t make a change.  The point was that he hadn’t thought about seeking God till he heard this voice inside of him. 

For seven days, Tim had supernatural grace come upon him to seek God. He did only what a 24 year old who had never really been in church could do - he sang Jesus Loves Me (yes, the Sunday school song) and shouted at the ceiling to a God that he hoped existed. He knew by the sixth day that if there was a God that he was about to meet him. 

God gave Tim a grace to seek God. He empowered him to run after Him even with the limited knowledge that he had. If we will just turn our affections toward Him and go after His presence, God will help weak people seek Him regardless of our knowledge or willpower.

Long story short, Tim met God on the seventh day. God showed up in power and deliverance and there was not a doubt in his mind that Jesus was “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Tim knew that God had a plan for his life. It was dramatic, and it was real. God showed up because Tim was obedient to turn his heart to Him and respond to His voice. 

 “Teach me Your way, O LORD,
         And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
  Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
         For false witnesses have risen against me, 
         And such as breathe out violence.
 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
         That I would see the goodness of the LORD 
         In the land of the living.” (Verses 11-13)

Hope is what keeps us going. We believe that we will see brighter days in the middle of the darkness when we hold to hope. 

People can lie about us as believers, especially if you are fighting for what is right. We will have adversaries who fight against the truth.  It will not be a “smooth path” every day.  God didn’t promise smoothness, but He did promise that we would see His “goodness…in the land of the living”.

Psalm 23 says “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.” We need to cling to the promises of God in the Word, so that we do not lose heart when times are hard. We struggle in this world, but we cannot give up!

David acknowledges here in these verses in Psalm 27 that life is not fair. Life is unjust. He acknowledges the truth that he would have lost heart, if he had not believed in the promises of God. The promises and hope kept him going, and he knew it. We cannot stop, we cannot give up, and we cannot lose heart. God is on the throne even in the middle of a country and leadership that seems to have gone crazy at times. We will see the goodness of the Lord in our lives, our families, and the Body of Christ.

Now comes the last important part of Psalm 27. I have to say that it is the hardest thing for us as twenty-first century Americans to do.

“Wait on the LORD;
         Be of good courage, 
         And He shall strengthen your heart; 
         Wait, I say, on the LORD!” (Verse 14)

If we stop, listen, and wait on the Lord, He will strengthen our hearts. He will take our weaknesses and make us strong. David is speaking to his soul here and is commanding his soul to wait on the Lord. 

It is hard for us to wait. Yell - if you must - to your mind, will, and emotions. Say, “Self – Wait on the Lord. He is your strength. There is no other hope that you can turn to – to find life. He is your life.”  

Make your soul listen to the truth of the Word of God. Like the Chinese Christians who cling to the fragments of one page of the Bible in the midst of persecution and the possibility of death for their faith in Christ, we have to cling to the Word of God and find our life. 

At that moment of seeking and the hoping, we reach what we have been longing for – His presence, and there is nothing better on the earth. His presence is our greatest reward.

Political corner: For those of us in politics, the hardest thing to do is seek the presence of God. We are busy, tired, under intense pressure, and our lives seem to be full of enemies. We have to prioritize the presence of God or politics will eat us alive. Running back to praise, joy, and hope in the midst of persecutions, sufferings, misunderstandings, and trials, His presence that ministers to our souls is the way that we not only survive in politics, but we thrive. God wants to walk with us in the midst of one of the hardest careers or activities to navigate. He wants us to dwell with Him. He is our “One Thing” and the strength of our hearts, even in the place where we are surrounded by mud-slinging and misunderstandings.

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