READ: Psalm 26-27
BACKGROUND: Psalm 26 is David’s prayer for God to show mercy to him and take account of his integrity. In Psalm 27, David goes on to pray that God will deliver him from all those who conspire to take him down, as well as an expression of his confident faith that one day he will be united with God and His enemies will be defeated.
By Verse:
26:1 – When David uses the word blameless, he does not mean sinless perfection, but moral integrity.
4-5 – David refuses to associate himself with those whose lives are marked with evil.
9-11 – David again asks God to see his righteousness and save him from the destruction that he will bring upon those who are evil.
27:1-3 – David’s security is found in the Lord even in the face of his enemies.
4-6 – The Lord himself is David’s stronghold.
7-12 – David’s prayer for deliverance from treacherous enemies. Its unclear who these enemies are, but their main attack is bringing false charges against David in an attempt to discredit him.
13-14 – This Psalm ends in an expression of David’s confidence that God will have the victory.
THINK: My heart hurts every time I get done watching the news. It’s no different tonight. Missing children, rape, murder, the list goes on. This world is full of evil and evil results in tremendous pain and suffering. I will be crying out to the Lord on behalf of some of the victims and their families that I heard about on tonight’s news.
David’s prayers that are recorded in the Psalms are often his desperate pleas, begging the Lord for protection from evildoers or for forgiveness for His own sin. In Psalms 26-27, David confidently professes that God is in control and has the power to protect and keep him. David seems to be in a deeply troubling season of life in Psalm 27, which makes it especially striking that his one request (vs 4) is that He will one day be with the Lord in Heaven. David knew that no one thing on this earth would ever fulfill the unquenchable thirst in his soul for absolute security, safety, and goodness.
In the midst of our most painful days and nights, we must choose to fix our gaze not on where we are, but on where we are going if we know and follow Jesus. Only in Heaven will all of our wounds be healed and our questions answered. David recognized that life can get really ugly (“though an army besiege me” (vs 3), “though war break out against me” (vs 3), “though my father and mother forsake me” (vs 10), “false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence” (vs 12). Even after the recognition of the pain God had allowed in his life, David ended his Psalm with this declaration: “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
We can have David’s same confidence if we have put our faith and trust in God. If the pain of life seems too much to bear and it’s difficult to believe God exists, follow David’s example – share your every thought with God and then take David’s words to heart, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” I am grieved by the stories I heard tonight of how evil impacts this world. I will praise God that my hope is in Him and it is not in anything in this world. I will rejoice knowing that one day I will be with Him in perfect peace.
DO: Follow David’s example and spend time pouring your heart out to God… your questions, your frustrations, your fears, your doubts. Then spend time praising Him for who He is. Click here to listen to an awesome worship song to lead you in a time of praise.
By: Cari Widdel
throughin2.com 