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. 

Psalm 27:9 

We all have our fears. We may articulate them or hold them close because they are so deep we find it painful to even refer to them. David was a man of faith. He believed thoroughly in God, and more specifically in Christ, Whom he called his Shepherd. David feared being left to himself by God. He was bold enough to articulate his fear. Our text is his utterance of it. This sheep did not want his Shepherd to leave him. Thus this verse is his pitiable cry, like the bleating of the forlorn sheep on the hillside. We may have the same fear that David had. We believe. We are people of faith. We have rested by faith in Christ, our Shepherd. We know the doctrine and trust the promises. Yet within us resides the nagging fear that God will run out of patience with us, that He will hide His face and turn away from us in anger for our weakness, our willfulness, and our many failings. God has been our help. We will be desolate if He leaves or forsakes us. What is our assurance? The writer of Hebrews has the answer, ‘Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ The writer is not merely making an assertion, but rather is quoting Christ Himself. These are not our words but His words. This is the answer to our fears. This is the answer to David’s prayer and ours. Christ has purchased us with His Own blood. He has married us and will never divorce us. He will not abandon us.  

O, Great Shepherd of the Sheep, 
we rejoice that You are ever watchful over Your flock. 
We praise You that You have given us the blessed assurance, 
that You will never leave us.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

When You said, Seek My face, my heart said to You, Your face, LORD, I will seek. 

Psalm 27:8 

God wants us to seek Him. David recounts God’s word to him. He said, ‘Seek My face.’ David’s heart responded with  ‘Your face, LORD, I will seek.’ This is the response of the person of faith. Faith is critical. Hebrews 11 says, ‘But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.’ David had faith, and because he did he responded to God’s exhortation as he did. In his response he is as a host of others. David did not stand alone in his seeking the face of God. He found the face of God in the Person of Christ. There is an intimate relationship between the middle eastern shepherd and his sheep. David had been a shepherd. When he sought the face of God, he found it in the Good, Great, and Chief Shepherd. He found it in his Lord, to Whom he refers in Psalm 110.  David understood that he would see the face of God in this One Who is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person. The call is the same for us. God says to us, ‘Seek My face.’ The heart response of the person of faith is ‘Your face, LORD, I will seek.’ Then we respond thus, God brings us to Christ. He is the Rose of Sharon, Who never fades. He is the Lily of the Valley that never loses its fragrance. All the exquisite elements of Divinity wrap themselves around and thoroughly permeate this most excellent Character. When we seek God’s face we behold it in Christ.  

Our Glorious, Living God, 
we rejoice that you have called us to seek Your face. 
We praise You that, as we do, 
You receive us graciously. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 

Psalm 27:7 

Prayer is the life-breath of the child of God. It rests upon the foundation of faith. We pray because we believe. If we did not believe, we would not pray. David was a man of faith. The psalms he wrote indicate that he believed and also that he prayed. Many of the psalms serve as patterns for our own petitions. Having spent the first half of this psalm in exaltation and adoration, David moves on to petitions. The rest of this psalm details exactly what he desires from God to meet his current needs. We can learn much from David’s approach which will help us as we go to prayer. We have seen that he has begun with adoration and the exaltation of God. We have seen him make much of Christ. These are useful for us to observe and practice in order that we pray with the knowledge of who God is ever before us. As we make much of Christ in prayer it reminds us of the foundation of our acceptance with God. Because Christ is our Redeemer, High Priest, and perpetual Intercessor, we can cry out, ‘Hear, O LORD.’ David cried out in faith from the sure foundation of Christ. We cry out from that same sure foundation. Our merits are nil and give us no standing. Christ’s merits are plentiful. Because of imputed righteousness we can say, ‘Hear, O LORD.’ 

Our Great and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You want us to pray. 
We praise You that when we do, 
You delight to answer. 

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 

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