Great Prayers of the Old Testament
Part 24: The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation
Psalm 27:1-14
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared May 23, 2025)
BACKGROUND:
*Anyone who has read a good portion of God's Word knows that there are a lot of prayers provided for us in the Bible. The Dake Annotated Reference Bible lists 222 different prayers in the Bible: 176 prayers in the Old Testament, and 46 prayers in the New Testament. (1)
*Today we will study another great prayer in the Old Testament. It's Psalm 27, and Matthew Henry gave the best background I have found. He began by writing, "Some think David penned Psalm 27 before his coming to the throne, when he was in the midst of his troubles, and perhaps upon occasion of the death of his parents. But the Jews think he penned it when he was old, upon occasion of the wonderful deliverance David had from the sword of one of the Philistine giants."
2 Samuel 21:16-17 gives this report:
16. Then Ishbi-Benob. (His name simply means "His dwelling is in Nob"). And he was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David.
17. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his (that is David's) aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, "You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel."
*John Gill explained that when David's men talked about the king's death in battle "quenching the lamp or light of Israel, they signified that their glory and prosperity depended on his life, and that, should David be taken away, they should be in affliction and adversity, their honor and their happiness would be at an end." So, King David was almost killed by the giant Ishbi-Benob, but Abishai rescued him and killed the Philistine. From then on the people would not let David go out with them to battle. With this background in mind, let's read Psalm 27:1-14 thinking about what it means for us today. (2)
MESSAGE:
*Only this year, and only by God's grace, did I start to treasure this Psalm. It all started with vs. 13-14 where David wrote, "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!"
*I mention this because this past year has been the most urgent time in our lives for us to wait on the LORD. Some of you may know that last August 3rd, I had a small vessel stroke in my brain stem. By the time we got to the emergency room, the whole left side of my body was basically useless. I never lost feeling in my arm or leg but I was not able to move them at all. And this stroke affected every organ from the top to bottom on the left side. By February this year, I was walking very well with a quad-cane. Sadly, I broke my left hip in a stupid fall, and I am still trying to come back from that.
*But my dear wife has been through a million times more trouble than me. Last October, our doctor discovered a 4-centimeter malignant tumor in her esophagus. Again by God's grace, Mary was admitted to M. D. Anderson in Houston, and had one of the best surgeons in the world. They thought the 6-hour surgery went well, and everything seemed to be fine until the 4th day after surgery. That's when Mary began to go septic. Somehow they had missed a tear in her esophagus. She had to go back for another 6-hour surgery to clean up her chest cavity and protect her from further damage. She was in and out of ICU, and our daughters told me it was "touch and go" for a few days. Only recently did they tell me the whole story that their mom almost died a couple of times in that ICU.
*Now, we have both been back home for a few weeks and the great news is that Mary is cancer-free. Praise the LORD! We also thank God for all of the people who are praying for us and have expressed their love in many other different ways. But the hard news is that Mary is going through her four post-op chemo treatments and these have been much harder on her than the pre-op treatments. So, please pray for us too, as long as the LORD lays us on your heart.
*But you can understand how we are urgently waiting on the LORD. Thank God we know that He always does the right thing at the right time! And Psalm 119:71 says, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes." The best news is that we have learned to lean on the LORD more than ever before. We have also been spending more time in His Word than ever before. And Psalm 27 has been one of the Scriptures that has meant the most to me, so let's explore this Psalm to see what it's all about.
1. FIRST, PSALM 27 IS ABOUT WINNING.
*We see this truth in vs. 1-3 where God's Word says:
1. A Psalm of David. 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?
2. When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell.
3. Though an army should encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, In this I will be confident.
*Christians, King David was a winner, because the LORD was his light and salvation. And the same is true for us! We may look like losers to godless people, but the truth is that we will be winners forever! God's Word makes this clear in the New Testament, and we see this truth in Scriptures like Romans 8:31-39. There Paul wrote:
31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
33. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
34. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36. As it is written: "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE KILLED ALL DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER."
37. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
38. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
39. nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
*We also see this truth in 1 John 5:1-5 where the Apostle wrote:
1. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.
2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world (even) our faith.
5. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
*During World War II, Dwight David Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe. The D-Day invasion of France was on June 6th, 1944. It was one of modern history’s most important moments, because it led to the defeat of Hitler’s evil, godless Nazi regime. An Allied Force representing 12 nations launched more than 5,000 boats and ships, 11,000 aircraft flew 28,000 missions, and about 150,000 ground troops landed in France.
*On D-day, under heavy fire, our brave armed forces landed on the beaches and scaled the cliffs of Normandy. About 4,500 of our soldiers were killed that day. And over 5,000 more were wounded. That number would have been twice as high, except for the planning, leadership, and courage of those men.
*But the day before this key invasion of Europe, the weather over the English Channel was terrible. And there was a serious debate about whether to postpone the invasion. The tides and moon wouldn't be right again until July. General Eisenhower said, "Such a postponement is too bitter to contemplate. I am quite positive, we must give the order." The invasion was launched, and the victory was won.
*Ten years later, President Eisenhower spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast. He told of praying on the night before the invasion, and he heard a voice from above which said, "The weather is for your protection. -- Launch tomorrow." (3)
*The bad weather put the Germans off-guard. They did not expect the attack. And victory came through the help of Almighty God! So never give up on prayer! Keep asking for God's mercy and blessings on us, on our families, on our churches, on our nation. And always remember that we are winners forever, because the LORD is our light, our salvation, and the strength of our lives!
2. PSALM 27 IS ABOUT WINNING. IT'S ALSO ABOUT WORSHIP.
*We see this truth in vs. 4-6 where King David wrote:
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
*Remember that LORD in all caps is "YAH-WEH" the great "I AM" name that the LORD first gave to Moses at the burning bush. We see this in Exodus 3:13-14 where God's Word says: "Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they say to me, "'What is His name?" what shall I say to them?' And God said to Moses, 'AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM' has sent me to you."
*In the KJV this name shows up a few times as JEHOVAH. And so, in Exodus 6:3 the LORD says, "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of 'God Almighty', but by my name 'JEHOVAH' was I not known to them. And Isaiah 12:2 in the NKJV says, "Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For YAH, the LORD', is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.'" And Isaiah 26:4 tells us to "Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength."
*This wonderful name "YAH" shows up in many times in the Old Testament. It's in verses urging us to praise the LORD. The original words together give us the word "Hallelujah."
*For example, 2 Samuel 22:4 says, "I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies."
-1 Chronicles 16:25 says, "For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised; He is also to be feared above all gods."
-Psalm 106:1 says "Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."
-And Psalm 113:3 says, "From the rising of the sun to its going down The LORD's name is to be praised."
*This wonderful word of praise to the LORD also shows up 4 times in Revelation 19 as "Alleluia" or "Praise you the LORD!"
1. After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!
3. Again they said, "Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!" (That is the smoke of the anti-Christ church that received God's wrath-filled judgment in Revelation 18.)
4. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, "Amen! Alleluia!"
6. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! (4)
*God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is always worthy of our worship! He is the only true and living God, eternally perfect in every way. He created us, loves us, and has given us every good thing we have ever received. Best of all, God the Father gave His only begotten Son to become a mortal man, live a perfect life, die on the cross for our sins, and rose again to live forever. God the Holy Spirit also had a crucial part in this saving work all the way from our creation to Jesus' conception, and His resurrection. God is most worthy of our worship. And nothing is more important in our Christian life than heartfelt worship of God. But what is worship?
*Melvin Newland gave one of the best explanations I ever heard. And he started by saying, "Well, the English word 'worship' means 'to give the highest worth to'. -- So when we worship, we're saying, 'God, you are number one in my life. You come before anything or anyone else.'
*The main Old Testament word that we translate as 'worship' means 'to bow down, to humble ourselves, to recognize God's sovereignty, and express reverence in His presence.' God's favorite word for worship in the New Testament is 'proskuneo.' I say that because He used this original word 60 times. It has the word picture of an affectionate dog licking his master's hand. And this word expresses the ideas of love, loyalty, and undying gratitude.
*Now when you put it all together, 'Worship is when we come to God and recognize who He is. We say, "God, you are number one in my life." We humble ourselves before Him. We recognize that He is Sovereign and the source of authority. We recognize that God is worthy of our love, loyalty, and undying gratitude, so we express it all to Him." (5)
3. PSALM 27 IS ABOUT WORSHIP. AND IT'S ABOUT WANTING TO PLEASE THE LORD
*We see this truth in vs. 7-12, where David said,
7. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8. When You said, "Seek My face,'' My heart said to You, "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 help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.
10. When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me.
11. Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
12. Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.
*Notice first that vs. 12 is a clear prophetic reference to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God's Word gives this report in Matthew 26:59-64.
59. Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death,
60. but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward
61. and said, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.'"
62. And the high priest arose and said to Him, "Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?"
63. But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!"
64. Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
*There are hundreds of prophecies about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. And the Risen Lord made this clear to His Disciples on the evening of the first Easter Sunday. Jesus simply appeared where the Disciples were hiding from the authorities. At first, the Disciples were terrified because they thought Jesus was a spirit. Then, the Lord showed them His hands and His feet. Jesus even asked them to touch His wounds from the cross. And the Lord ate a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.
*Then in Luke 24:44-48, Jesus,
44. ...said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."
45. And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
46. Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
47. and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48. And you are witnesses of these things."
*And Psalm 27:12 may well have been one of the Scriptures Jesus showed His disciples that night. But David surely wanted to please the LORD in vs. 7-12. And why did King David want to please the LORD? -- BECAUSE DAVID LOVED THE LORD! And why did David love the LORD? For the same reason that we love the LORD. -- BECAUSE THE LORD LOVED US FIRST! As 1 John 4:19 says "We love Him because He first loved us."
*Deuteronomy 32 reports the Holy Spirit inspired song Moses wrote shortly before he died. And in vs. 3-4, Moses wrote, "For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He." That is an excellent description of our God. And thank the LORD that He is as good as He is great!
*But in Moses's Song, he also gave a wonderful testimony about the LORD's love for Jacob. And in Deuteronomy 32:9-13 Moses said:
9. For the LORD's portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.
10. "He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
11. As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings,
12. So the LORD alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him.
13. He made him ride in the heights of the earth, That he might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock.
*I wasn't able to find a good explanation of vs. 13, but one paraphrase basically said, "He let him ride over the highlands and feast on the crops of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock and olive oil from the stony ground." (6)
*The main point is that the LORD always takes the first steps in our relationship with Him. It's like the parable Jesus told in Luke 15:3-7.
3. So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
4. "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'
7. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
*And in John 10 Jesus said:
11. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
14. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
15. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
*The LORD always takes the first steps in our relationship with Him. And we love the LORD, because the LORD loved us first! Again in 1 John 4:19, "We love Him because He first loved us." That's why David and Jacob wanted to please the LORD, and we should want to please Him too!
4. PSALM 27 IS ABOUT IS ABOUT WANTING TO PLEASE THE LORD, AND IT'S ABOUT WAITING ON THE LORD.
*We see this truth in vs. 13-14 where David wrote:
13. I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.
14. Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
*There are many Scriptures about waiting on the LORD. I think the most famous is Isaiah 40:28-31 where God's Word says:
28. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
31. But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
*To me, waiting on the LORD is about obeying God's will for us to wait. But much more than that it's about trusting in the LORD to always do the right thing at the right time, even though He hasn't done it yet! And it's also about doing the best thing we can do when we go through the hard times of life or any time in life.
CONCLUSION:
*I think of the suffering woman who was stooped over by a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. Luke 13:10-17 reports her story and says:
10. Now He (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.
12. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity."
13. And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day."
15. The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?
16. So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound -- think of it -- for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"
17. And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
*Talk about waiting on the Lord! That poor woman had to wait 18 years! So, here we are, waiting on the LORD! Trusting that God always does the right thing at the right time. It's one of the best things we can do in the hard times, in the good times, and every time in life.
*But if you have never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please call on the Lord Jesus to save you today. This is the most important thing we can ever do in life. Jesus knows everything about our lives, both the good and the bad. But Jesus still loves us anyway! He is the only way to God's forgiveness and eternal life in Heaven, so please put your trust in our crucified and risen Savior. You can do that right now as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Sources:
-Title from e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-DAKE ANNOTATED REFERENCE BIBLE - Dake Publishing - https://www.hopefaithprayer.com/prayernew/222-prayers-of-the-bible/
(2) Sources:
-Adapted from MATTHEW HENRY’S COMMENTARY ON THE WHOLE BIBLE - Written 1706-1710 - Introduction to Psalm 27 - https://www.ccel.org/h/henry/mhc2/MHC19027.HTM
-BROWN-DRIVER-BRIGGS' HEBREW DEFINITIONS - Published in 1906; public domain- Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-STRONG'S HEBREW AND GREEK DICTIONARIES - from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D. - Published in 1890; public domain. - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-JOHN GILL'S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE by Dr. John Gill, D. D. - 1697-1771 - Published in 1746-1766, 1816 - Psalm 21:17 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-Adapted from BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Copyright 1995 - 2 Samuel 21:1-22 - IV. APPENDIX (Chaps. 21-24) - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(3) Sources:
-National D-Day Memorial Foundation - https://www.dday.org/
-I have lost the original hard copy source for Eisenhower's testimony, and I have not been able to find it online.
(4) Sources:
-BROWN-DRIVER-BRIGGS' HEBREW DEFINITIONS - Published in 1906; public domain- Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-STRONG'S HEBREW AND GREEK DICTIONARIES - from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D. - Published in 1890; public domain. - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(5) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "Worship Is More Than That" by Melvin Newland - Psalm 95:6-7
(6) Adapted from Deuteronomy 32:13 in the New Living Translation
