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. 

Psalm 27:6 

The Church of Jesus Christ is a singing church. When David testified of the saving work of grace God had done in his life he said, ‘He has put a new song in my mouth, Praise to our God.’ The testimony of the Israelites after the end of the Babylonian captivity was, ‘When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, The LORD has done great things for them.’ The scene in Revelation, when the beast is defeated, speaks of God’s people singing ‘the song of Moses…and the song of the Lamb.’ David is the sweet psalmist of Israel. We are still singing much of what he wrote. When Christ has done great things for us and is our all in all, we find our expression of the deep emotion it evokes in the songs of Zion. At such times nothing else can adequately express all we are feeling. Particular songs evoke from us memories of golden hours when Christ drew very near. We sing at the graveside of our dear departed loved ones who have died in Christ. We sing not sorrowing as those who have no hope. We sing knowing that God’s eternal day is dawning soon and all the ransomed church of God will be saved to sin no more. We sing knowing that eternity will be filled with singing. They are heavenly anthems and all about the King of  Kings. David said, ‘I will sing.’ We say, “We will sing.’ All the redeemed say, ‘We will sing.’ All of heaven and earth, as well as the New Jerusalem shall abound with singing.  

High King of heaven, 
we rejoice that You have bestowed upon us  
an abundance of things about which we can sing. 
We praise You that we have begun singing, 
and will never cease. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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. 

Psalm 27:6 

Christ deserves all the glory and all the praise. David was a capable and talented man. He was a skilled warrior, who could handle himself against his enemies. He made use of the talents and abilities God gave him, but he did not boast of his own prowess. Rather, he glorified God for his victories. He made it clear his confidence was in God, most specifically in Christ, to deliver him from those who would harm him. As he gained victory over his adversaries, he was careful to give God the glory. Thus he offered sacrifices of joy and sang praises to God. We experience victories over those who would do us harm. When we experience these victories, the glory goes to God. We offer sacrifices of joy and sing praises. We want everyone else who hears of our success to magnify the Christ Who has done all things well. Our successes are that much more remarkable because we know we are weak by nature. We are often easily put to flight. Yet if Christ intervenes on our behalf, He gives us victory we could not gain otherwise. Therefore because we know He has intervened for us, we are careful to give Him the glory He so richly deserves. We join David in the tabernacle. We offer sacrifices of joy and sing praises to the Lamb, Who is altogether worthy. He gives us victory now and forever.  

Our Great God and Our Savior, 
we rejoice that You strengthen Your people. 
We praise You that You give us victory 
and deserve all the glory for it. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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. 

Psalm 27:6 

Christ wins. Christ’s people win. We know this in spite of every indication to the contrary. What we see is apparently the advance of evil. ‘The wicked walk on every side and the vilest men are exalted.’ Like the writer of Psalm 73, we may wonder why the wicked prosper. David certainly saw wicked people prosper in his day. Some of the people closest to him initially turned out to be faithless betrayers and ruthless plotters. They almost succeeded in dethroning and destroying him. God, in His mercy and for His Own glory, preserved David’s life and restored him to his rightful position. We may not live lives of intrigue as David did, yet we do have enemies. Christ’s enemies are our enemies. Because He is our Head and we are His Body those who are against Him are also against us. How shall we succeed against those who hate Christ and us because we are His? Christ is the answer. He lifts our head up above our enemies. He does what we cannot do. He defends us against those against whom we have no might. The weapons of our warfare are not the carnal weapons of human conflict. Rather our weapons are spiritual. We bring our anxieties about our foes to Him. He takes up our cause. He lifts us up. He sets us in the high and secure place. Jesus never fails.  

Our Good and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You are our portion in the land of the living. 
We praise You that You deliver us  
from all who would do us evil. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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. 

Psalm 27:5 

Christ is our rock. David had a personal testimony of his experience of salvation. He articulated it by saying, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.” When he was overwhelmed and distressed it was Christ he wanted. He said, “From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Christ has been, is, and shall ever be the rock of His people. All other foundations are the shifting sand of the things of time and sense. They are temporal and fleeting. In the hardest times of David’s life it was Christ Who was his sure foundation. He kept him from being swept away by the storms and waves of life. David’s rock is our rock. We do not climb to Him nor maintain our position upon Him by dint of our own efforts. He has placed us high upon Him and holds us there by the power of His Almighty arm. This enables us to face the hardest circumstances of life with a composed and secure spirit. We trust not in our own righteousness, but in His. We rest not in what we have done, are doing, or will do. We rest on the finished work of our all-sufficient Savior. He has done all things well. David rejoiced in the work of God to set him high upon the rock of his salvation. We rejoice that David’s Christ is our Christ, and his rock is our rock.  

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that You are our sure foundation. 
We praise You that You will see to it 
that we are never moved. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning