1 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 may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
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.
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.
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!—Psalm 27
“Be strong and of good courage”
I usually so dislike when someone says this to me, but that is because I forget that our God is not like the world. In Him, I do not have to pull myself up by my bootstraps and, as the King James says, "quit like a man." Our God does not ask us to be strong in ourselves and in our own power...He asks us to be strong in Him! He is the one who does it all.
We walk by faith and not by sight. It is so easy to think we know better than God....especially when our circumstances look impossible and we have not been washing ourselves daily with His truth. Faith does not look at what is seen. Faith obeys no matter how things look from a human perspective. Faith puts its trust in God. It surrenders all!
Psalm 27:14 tells us to wait on the Lord and be of good courage and He shall strengthen our heart. What a place of rest we come to when we can truly place all the issues of life in His hands. No fretting...no matter what happens we are trusting God. We are standing fast in Him! Immersed in His word and aware of His presence we cannot be thrown off balance by anything the enemy might throw at us! We fight from victory and it is not our battle...it is the Lord's.
“For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
The presence of the Lord eradicates fear and faint-heartedness. It is His courage and strength that we walk in. He is there. He is with us. He upholds us and bears us up.
Our God prepares us for whatever we will face as we diligently study His word daily. He arms us with His strength, His knowledge and His presence.
I will end with some verses from Daniel Chapter 10 that always bring tears to my eyes.
Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!”
So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”
How beautiful is that? The awareness of God...His voice, His touch, His presence with us and His love for us strengthens us and brings us peace.
Be of good courage...be strong, stay in the word and stand fast for the people God has placed in our lives. We are in a battle...eternity is at stake. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight!
