Psalms 27

The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life. Wesley: Light—My counsellor in all my difficulties, and my comforter and deliverer in all my distresses. Strength—The supporter and preserver of my life. Confidence names God himself as light, salvation, and stronghold before fear is answered.

Shared piety—fear is met by who the LORD is, not by denial that dangers are in earnest. Keep God as counsellor and comforter in view; then "whom shall I fear?" is lived trust, not bravado.

Calvin: perceiving sharp temptations, David fortifies himself beforehand and brings together matter for confidence. He calls God light, salvation, and strength of life—a threefold shield. Weighing earth and hell as lighter than a feather, he considers God alone as far outweighing the whole. Due homage trusts promised aid and dares to boast of safety in him.

The LORD is light and stronghold. Faith recovers courage from the high tower of confidence; the interrogation shows how highly the divine protection is esteemed. Put such a value on God's power as to put flight to fear.

When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. Past deliverance becomes present courage: savage assault ended in their fall, not his.

Remember how God has already overturned devouring foes. Testimony of stumble and fall feeds the confidence of v. 1. Do not erase the cruelty named; celebrate the LORD who made predators fall.

Calvin: retain the past tense—David recalls triumphs obtained by God's help and from them concludes he need not doubt assistance. Nothing confirms faith more than remembrance of instances where God proved grace, truth, and power. He calls them wicked to testify innocence; "eat up my flesh" marks savage cruelty.

Former mercies are fuel for present trust. Connect remembered falls of enemies with the fearlessness that follows. Experience of help is not nostalgia; it is argument for hope.

Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident. Wesley: In this—That God is my light. The ground of courage is not the size of the host but the identity of the light.

Confidence holds when war rises because God remains light. Army and war name worst-case threat; the heart answers with trust, not numbness. Keep "in this" pointed at God, not at odds of battle.

Calvin: from former experience he infers that whatever adversity befalls, he ought to hope well. Camps and armies include whatever is most formidable; though all conspire for destruction, he disregards their violence because God's power on his side is far above theirs. "My heart shall not fear" does not mean total absence of fear—that would be insensibility—but that faith's shield keeps the heart from fainting.

Courage under siege is faith opposing terror, not stoic blankness. When the trial comes, faith proves invincible because it relies on God's power.

One thing I have asked of the LORD, that I will seek after: to dwell in his house, gaze on his beauty, inquire in his temple. Wesley: Dwell—Have opportunity of constant attendance upon God. To behold—That there I may delight myself in the contemplation of thy amiable and glorious majesty, and of thy infinite wisdom, holiness, justice, truth, and mercy.

The one desire is God's presence and worship, not mere scenery. Seek constant attendance; delight in who he is. Beauty here is the LORD's amiable majesty known in his house.

Calvin: under "one" is an antithesis—disregarding all other interests, intense affection for God's service; exile from the sanctuary was bitterer than loss of house, wife, or substance. Not a gross wish to enclose God in wood and stone: temple beauty is the celestial pattern shown to Moses. Word, sacraments, public prayers still draw the faithful; they cannot be neglected without wicked contempt of God.

Prefer God's house to every recovery of earthly loss. Gaze and inquire aim at God himself in his appointed helps, not at empty ornament.

Wesley: The secret—In his tabernacle, into which mine enemies cannot come; alluding to offenders who fled to tabernacle or altar. Rock—A place high and inaccessible.

Shelter, tent, and rock name refuge in trouble. Flee to God's covering, not to self-made hideouts. Height on the rock is safety granted, not climbing skill.

Calvin: though deprived of the visible sanctuary for a time, wherever he is he shall experience protecting power. The temple figure means God spreads wings to gather true believers; every sincere seeker is safely concealed. Under the figure of a rock, protection is impregnable. Do not measure God's aid by outward appearances; in the midst of death hope for deliverance from his hand.

Day of trouble drives the soul under God's tent. Faith reads symbols of presence as promise of cover, and stands on the rock God sets.

And Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me; sacrifices with shouts of joy; song and melody to the LORD. Deliverance aims at worship: lifted head becomes loud thanks in his tent.

Joy-sacrifices and melody answer shelter received. Do not stop at escape; enter the tent to sing. Public praise fits private rescue.

Calvin: by a solemn vow of thanksgiving he confirms hope of deliverance. Though in banishment and barred from the temple, he boasts he will again come to God's altar. He sets holy rejoicing over against the profane triumphings of the world.

Lifted head ends in offered joy and song. Vow praise before the siege fully lifts; gratitude is part of confidence, not an afterthought.

Hear, LORD, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also on me, and answer me! Confidence (vv. 1–6) turns to petition without shame. Cry and grace belong together.

Bold trust still asks to be heard. Aloud crying is earnest need, not unbelief. Seek gracious answer from the God already named light and salvation.

Calvin: he returns to prayer and shows with what armor he broke through temptations. By "cry" he expresses vehemence to move God the sooner to help. The more the faithful are oppressed, the more their need induces God to extend favor.

Prayer is the armor of confidence under fire. Vehemence in crying is piety, not panic alone; ask mercy and answer from the God who has already been help.

When you said, “Seek my face,” my heart answered you: I will seek your face, LORD. God's command opens the seeking; the heart echoes with resolve. Shared piety—invitation first, response second.

Answer the call to seek his face with a willing heart. Face-seeking is obedience joined to desire.

Calvin: no one can believingly rise to seek God until the way is first opened by God's invitation. David brings forward the promise and responds as it were to God; as soon as we hear God presenting himself, let us cordially reply, Amen. "Face" alludes to the sanctuary mode of manifestation—helps by which God raises us to his presence in Word and sacraments.

God's "Seek" creates the chorus of the heart's I seek. Fix eyes on his appointed view of himself; do not reshape God by private fancy.

Hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger; cast me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation! Wesley: Away—From thy face or presence, or from the place of thy worship. The seeker of v. 8 dreads lost presence and angry dismissal.

Plead to keep the face you seek. Anger and casting off are fears before a holy God; salvation's God is asked not to forsake. Former help ("you have been my help") emboldens the plea.

Calvin: "face" now means sensible effects of grace—make me truly experience that you have been near. "Cast not away in anger" imports a tacit confession of sin; though God might justly cast him off, he deprecates anger. Recalling former favors, he encourages hope and moves God not to leave his work imperfect.

Hide-not and forsake-not are prayers of dependents, not claimants of desert. Past help argues for continued salvation, while anger is humbly deprecated.

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. Human bonds may fail; the LORD's welcome does not. Shared piety—God outdoes the strongest earthly care.

When nearest kin cannot or will not hold you, trust the LORD who takes in. This is comfort for the abandoned, not license to despise parents. God's taking-in is the surer home.

Calvin: David does not charge unnatural betrayal by Jesse; by comparison he magnifies grace—God remains ready though all men forsake. Parental love is the highest among humans, yet God advances higher (Isaiah 49:15). Sooner shall nature's laws be overturned than God fail his people.

Faith must rise above nature's affections. The LORD as father and mother to his people steadies those forsaken by the best earthly loves.

Teach me your way, LORD. Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies. Wesley: Because of—That I may neither fall into their hands by my folly, nor give them any occasion of triumphing over me. Guidance is asked both for safety and for witness.

Pray to be taught and led, not only rescued. Folly can hand you to foes; ask a level path that starves their triumph. Willing to be taught is part of waiting on God.

Calvin: simpler sense—that God would extend his hand and safely conduct him to a happy issue, setting the right path against rough impediments. Whoever commits to God's safeguard must renounce crafty devices; God blesses the single in heart who trust his faithfulness, not crooked counsels.

Level path is God's leading against adversary pressure. Refuse cunning shortcuts; ask to be conducted in the right way.

Give me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty. Slander and cruelty press together; the plea is not to be handed over to their desire.

Ask God to withhold you from the adversary's will. False witness and breathed violence are true; integrity alone does not silence them. Pray deliverance while you walk the level path of v. 11.

Calvin: deliver me not to their lust; they greedily gaped for his destruction. God delivers by appeasing cruelty or by restraining power when fury burns. David was oppressed by slanders and by open violence; even singular integrity could not free him from deadly calumnies. Remember Christ suffered from lying tongues as from violence.

This prayer comforts: God can maintain innocence and shield against cruelty. When lies and force rise together, plead not to be given up to their will.

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wesley: The living—David was earnestly desirous of this mercy in this life, not because he placed his portion in these things, but because the truth and glory of God were highly concerned in making good the promise of the kingdom to him.

Faith expects to see goodness, not only after death but in God's faithful dealing among the living. Belief holds when sight is dim. Desire mercy here because God's truth is at stake in his promises.

Calvin: incomplete sentence in Hebrew—supported solely by faith, otherwise he had perished. Land of the living is present life, not forced into the heavenly inheritance alone. From darkness of death he promises himself a view of divine favor. He dared this by special assurance tied to the kingdom promise; generally we hope that though God may not openly show favor, he will still be merciful in the present life.

Belief that looks on goodness keeps the soul from fainting. Faith, not visible recovery, is the remedy; hope in God's mercy now without overleaping the boundaries of what he has promised.

Wait for the LORD. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wesley's outline closes: he exhorts others to wait upon God. Strength and courage are joined to waiting, not to restless self-rescue; the doubled "wait" braces a fainting heart.

Waiting is active trust, not idle delay. Be strong and take courage while you wait; encourage others by the same call. Repeat the wait when fear returns.

Calvin: likely addressed to himself to encourage confidence lest his heart faint. Waiting is for when God hides or delays help. He stirs himself: if fearfulness steal upon thee, rise by invincible resolution. Had he said only "Act like a man," he would have alleged free-will; he adds that God would strengthen his heart—saints fight in another's strength. He does not put efforts in the van then ask aid; he requests the Spirit to supply his deficiency, and repeats Wait on Jehovah.

Courage in waiting is patience that commits the soul quietly to God. Strength to wait is asked from God, not mustered as the price of his help.