WAIT ON THE LORD (PSALM 27)
After a long sermon on forgiveness, the preacher asked how many were willing to forgive their enemies. About half held up their hands. Not satisfied he harangued for another twenty minutes and repeated his question. This time he received a response of about 80 percent.
Still unsatisfied, he lectured for another 15 minutes and repeated his question. With all thoughts now on Sunday dinner, all responded except one elderly lady in the rear. "Mrs. Jones, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?"
"I don't have any."
"Mrs. Jones, that is very unusual. How old are you?"
"Ninety three."
"Mrs. Jones, please come down in front and tell the congregation how a person can live to be ninety-three, and not have an enemy in the world."
The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, very slowly turned around and said, "It's easy, I just outlived all those losers!"
The Hebrew word “enemy” occurs 282 times in the Old Testament, with 74 times in the Psalms, more than one fourth. Chapter 27, along with Psalm 18, are the “enemy psalms” of the Bible, where the plural “enemies” occurs four times (vv 2, 6, 11, 12 KJV), more than any psalm in the Bible, except Psalm 27 added the synonym “foes” (v 2).David’s enemies included evil men (v 2) and false witnesses (v 12).
What is an enemy?
Merriam-Webster: One that is antagonistic to another; especially : one seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent. 2. Something harmful or deadly.
Collins Dictionary: “a person hostile or opposed to a policy, cause, person, or group, esp one who actively tries to do damage; opponent
Oxford Learners: a person who hates someone or who acts or speaks against someone or something.
Britannica: someone who hates another someone who attacks or tries to harm another
In real life, David’s enemies included not only foreign foes, but his mentor Saul and his son Absalom.
Who are our enemies? How do they treat us and how do we treat them? Why is it best to hand your enemies to the Lord than take the issue into your own hands?
Take Care: Let the Lord be Your Help
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.
Here are some thought-provoking quotes for thought:
“Affliction is a pill, which, being wrap up in patience and quiet submission, may be easily swallowed; but discontent chews the pill, and so embitters the soul.” John Flavel
“Affliction may be lasting, but it is not everlasting.” Thomas Watson
“The good man has his enemies. He would not be like His Lord if he had not. If we were without enemies we might fear that we were not the friends of God, for friendship of the world is enmity to God.” Charles Spurgeon
“It costs something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run.” J. C. Ryle
“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies.” Robert Murray M'Cheyne
The Lord occurs 13x in Psalms 27 (vv 1 twice, 4 thrice, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14 twice), one short of the 14 verses in the chapter, but made 14 by “God my Savior” (v 9). Only two Psalms begin with the declaration “The Lord is my” (Ps 23, 27), including, Psalms 23. Further, “the Lord is my” occurs twice in verse 1. Into the new year, life is frenetic, fierce and fearful, but the Lord is our strength and shield, solace and support. The personal pronoun “my” occurs 14 times in the chapter in KJV. David had a direct, devoted and dependable relationship with the Lord.
Light, salvation and stronghold/strength (v 1). Light is sight/discernment/without darkness, salvation is security/deliverance, without doom, and stronghold is support/defense/without deficiency.
V 1 Light Salvation Stronghold/strength
Sight Security Support
Discernment Deliverance Defense
No darkness No doom No deficiency
Besiege/encamp is encamp (v 3, KJV), encompass, encircle and encroach. My heart will not fear (v 3). It does not mean we have no fears but that we won’t let fear control or contain or coerce or change us. It is a decision, a determination and a declaration. It’s been said, “There is no greater fear than fear itself.” Fear is a terrible menace, a terrifying monster and a treacherous master, but we must not let fear and its impulse, impact and imagination intimidate us, impede, imprison and impair us.
Take Cover: Let the Lord be Your Hideout
4 One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. 6 Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord.
One day there was young man, a traffic officer who happened to be riding in a public transport to work and on the road, it happened that the bus he was riding on came across a terrible accident where people we scattered on the road, because people like to stir! This young man himself when he reached the scene started panic, because he was alone, and not only that he was also but he had forgotten of the power he had as traffic office simply because personally his life that was in a rough stage, the challenges of life were weighing on him like a heavy rock; and when bus came to the incident nobody knew what to do because he himself felt helpless and he called for people to phone the traffic office but people we suppressed, some tried to channel the cars but they couldn't do it!
It was only when one granny came to him and asked him. “Could you lend me your uniform so that I could control the traffic?” that he came to his sense that he had the power to change the situation.
There’s always a back door, side door or open door in our anguish or affliction.
Ask and seek (v 4) is question and quest, petition and pursuit, appeal and approach, of which the latter – “seek”- is more crucial, critical and central. Ask is active, but seek is aggressive. Ask is vigorous, but seek is rigorous.
Ask Seek
Question Quest
Petition Pursuit
Appeal Approach
The verb “seek” is the most repeated verb in the chapter (vv 4, 8 twice), all in the intensive Piel form, with the translation “surely” added, therefore it is intense, intentional and insistent. What did the Psalmist seek with his two important “infinitive” purpose clauses: (1) to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and (2) to seek him in His temple (v 4). Gaze is taken from the role of the Old Testament “seer” who “see through things.” It is to marvel – to be moved, mesmerized, magnetized and ministered by His beauty. Incredibly, “beauty” appears for the first time in the Bible. It is translated elsewhere in KJV as “pleasantness” (Prov 3:17), pleasant (Prov 15:26, 16:24). It means pure, pleasing, peaceful, photogenic and praiseworthy.
The second “seek” (v 4, baqar) is not the same as the first “seek” (baqash) in verse 4. The first seek is more “seek out,” seek after or seek for. The first “seek” is the action, but the second “seek” (seek him in his temple) is the attention. It was first used for priests who examine an infectious skin disease (Lev 13:36) closely, carefully and concertedly to determine if the clean or unclean, to see it is just an itch or a rash. The examination is thorough, thoughtful and even time-consuming and time-intensive.
There’s a reason (“ki”) in verse 5. Day of trouble/evil occurs for the first in Psalm 27:5. There are three “in” in Hebrew – “in” his dwelling; he will hide me “in” the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high “upon/IN” a rock. The preposition “in” denotes shelter, sanctuary and safety. Rock is tough, towering and tenacious.
There are three “let me” cohortative clauses instead of a bland “I” in verse 6 in Hebrew: (let me) sacrifice with shouts of joy; (let me) sing and (let me) make music to the Lord. The first is the pleasure – the sound joy gladness, the second is the song and the last is the salute content. God causes us to find joy in trouble. The first is sound/cheer/pleasure, the second is song/chorus/pronouncement, and the third is salute/credit/praise.
V 6 Sacrifice with songs of joy Sing Make music to the Lord
Sound Song Salute
Cheer Chorus Credit
Attitude Action Acknowledgement
Take Courage: Let the Lord be Your Hope
7 Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. 8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. 10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. 12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence. 13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Of David.
Last week, I have been sick from flu ten days from Wednesday. My good friend who is a leader of the church said, “Get some rest after meeting tonight?” The next day, someone persuaded me to see a doctor. The next day I drank a vendor’s tea for $29. I took Panadol, Benadryl, Strepsils, lozene cough drops, kam kuat, ginger drink, Manuka Honey, Wei Yuan Tong, everything I can get my hands on. A seminary intern said she has been coughing for three weeks!
By Friday I was better but my voice did not recover as fast. A coworker asked if I have seen a doctor for $20 with insurance and suggested to eat oranges and not chicken. Another asked, “Pastor, are you getting better? Did you eat medicine? Did you rest?” In desperation I answered, “Needs time to recover.” From the internet I discovered its from one week to two weeks.
Vv 7-10 (Longer) Vv 11-12 (Shorter)
Positive vv 7-8, Negative vv 9-10 Positive v 11, negative v 12
Face (repetition) vv 8, 9 Enemies (vv 11, 12)
Imperatives: Be merciful to ME, answer ME (v 7),
“Not” indirect imperatives: do not hide your face from ME, leave ME not or forsake me (v 9), teach ME…lead ME not (v 10) Teach me, lead me (v 11),
“Not” indirect imperatives: Do not turn ME over (v 12)
From trust in God and turn to God in the first half to talk to God. Not coincidentally, the psalmist ends the psalm of 14 verses with 10 direct imperatives and 4 indirect psalms in the “NOT” negation form. Verse 7 has three imperatives, which is unusual in one verse: “hear,” “be merciful” and “answer.” The imperative “be merciful” occurs more than 20 times in Psalms, but only in Psalms is it directed to God, ant not men (Judg 21:22, Job 19:21).
Verse 9 has four “not” indirect imperative we call “jussive” plus the “NOT” negation – “Do not” hide your face from me, “do not” turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. “Do not” reject me “or” forsake me. Face (vv 8 twice, 9) in the Old Testament means God’s grace and goodwill, His favor and fellowship, His presence and providence in one’s life.
verse 11-12 “teach” is learning, but “lead” is living. Teach is schooling, but lead is support. Teach is develop but lead is to direct.
Last two verses no “me.” 14 wait, be strong and wait are imperatives. The imperative “WAIT on the Lord is exclusive to Psalms (v 14, 37:34), except this is last verse. Verse 14 twice. There is no concept for the two words “patient” and “patience” in the Old Testament, except Eccl 7:8. The nearest or equivalent substitute for it is slow to anger, but patience does not manifest itself in anger.
Dictionary.com says patience is “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems or sufferings without becoming annoyed or anxious.
Cambridge: the quality if being able to stay calm and not get angry, especially when something takes a long time.
Vocabulary.com: patience is a person’s ability to wait something out or endure something tedious, without getting riled up.
Charles Spurgeon said, “The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes.” (azquotes.com)
The two most frequent nouns are heart (vv 3, 8, 14) and face (vv 8 twice, 9).
CHECKLIST:
Turn the cheek
Think of solutions
Tone things down
Talk things over
Treat others right
