Psalm 27 Continued…
Psalms 27:1 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?
The Lord is my light
He is my source of light. That is, He guides and leads me, for He is my counselor when I face difficulties, and my comforter and deliverer during times of distress. Darkness is the symbol of distress, trouble, bewilderment, and sorrow; light is the symbol of the opposite of these. God furnished him light that had the capacity to make his troubles disappear, and his way bright and happy.
David’s subjects called him the light of Israel; but his light was like the light which the moon emits, a borrowed light. The light which God communicated to him reflected upon the people of Israel. God is our light, and as light, He shows us the condition we are in due to our sinful nature and practices, but He also reveals to our minds how we may, step by step, be brought by grace to the place of our salvation. As our light, He shows us the obstacles that lie in our way; the difficulties, and those enemies, and conflicts, we will have to encounter, and how He will enable us to overcome them. It is only in His light that we continue on in our Christian course, and it is in His light that we hope to see light forever.
And my salvation
God is my salvation, that is, He saves or delivers me. I am safe in Him, and by Him, I shall be saved. Salvation finds us in the dark, but it does not leave us there, and the Light He provides can never be extinguished by man.
Whom shall I fear?
This clause sounds very much like what Paul said in Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” If God is on our side or is for us, we can have no anxiety or dread of that which lies ahead. He is abundantly able to protect us, and we may confidently trust in Him. No one needs any better security against the objects of fear or dread than the conviction that God is his friend.
“Whom” points to personal adversaries; persecutors and tempters, real or imaginary, seen and unseen. Who can injure or destroy us? Sinners may be against us, and so may the great enemy of our souls—the evil one, but their power to destroy us is taken away. God is mightier than all our foes, and he can defend and save us. “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 118:6). This is the proposition advanced in this verse, and Paul proceeds to illustrate this thought in various ways to the end of the chapter.
The question was asked, “Whom shall I fear?” The answer, of course, is no one. Who can be against us? No one can be against us, successfully and safely; they may harm themselves more than us. Emperor Maximilian, admired this sentence so much that he had it written over the table where he used to eat.
The Lord is the stronghold of my life
Let’s look first at what the Lord is not: He is not the strength of his natural life, though He was the God of his life, who had given it to him, and had preserved it, and sustained his soul in it; but He is Lord of his spiritual life. Christ is the author of spiritual life, He implants the principle of it in the hearts of His people, and He, Himself is that life; He lives in them, and He supports their life; He is the tree of life, and the bread of life, by which it is maintained; and He provides life with security; it is all bound up in the bundle of life with Him, it is hidden with Christ in God; and because He lives they live also; and he gives unto them eternal life, so that they have no reason to be afraid that they shall miss heaven and fall short of happiness.
Here is a third glowing epithet, which shows that the writer’s hope was fastened with a threefold cord which could not be broken. David described God as His light, His salvation, and now he declares, “The Lord is the stronghold of my life.” Like David, our life derives all its strength from Him who is the author if it; and if he agrees to make us strong we cannot be weakened by all the scheming and maneuverings of our adversaries.
In other words, He keeps me alive. In itself life is feeble, and is easily crushed by the trouble and sorrow that comes to it; but as long as God is its strength, there is nothing to fear. It is in Him that we live and move and have our being. In God therefore let us strengthen ourselves, for there is no fortitude like that of faith. If God be for us, who can be against us?
Of whom shall I be afraid?
This bold question looks into the future as well as the present. “If God be for us,” who can be against us, either now or in time to come? And they don’t need to fear them that can kill the body and can do no more than that; nor any enemy whatsoever, who cannot reach their spiritual life, or hurt that, or prevent them enjoying eternal life. Their trust is in Him, for He is a stronghold or fortress, and they are safe in Him. If Omnipotence is his guard, he has no reason to fear; if he knows it to be so, he has no disposition to fear. If God is his light, he fears no shades of darkness; if God is his salvation, he fears no dark influences, for he will triumph over his enemies, as sure as if they were already routed.
I have no desire to have a timid, insincere profession of Christ. Such preachers and professors are like a rat playing at hide and seek behind a wall, who puts his head through a hole to see if the coast is clear, and ventures out if nobody is around; but slinks back again if danger appears. We cannot be honest with Christ unless we are bold for Him. He is either worth all we can lose for Him, or He is worth nothing.
PRAY
Father, let me live out the boldness that you have implanted into my heart. Do not let me give in to fears and worries. Let my mind be fixed and resolute that you are my source of strength and that I have absolutely nothing to fear.