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

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 the great Preserver of His people. He has His pavilion which He uses to shelter them. He dwells in the secret place of the tabernacle and encloses them there with Him. He sets them upon the rock out of the reach of their enemies. Sometimes He delivers them from death. Other times He delivers them by death and sweeps them into His Presence out of the grasp of their enemies. David understood how thoroughly secure he was in Christ. In spite of all his enemies sought to do to him, he died an old man in his own bed. Christ exercises absolute control over all things and all people. The wicked are subject to His will. He, the Great Shepherd, preserves His sheep against all who would do them harm. The world, and all who dwell within it are His and bend to His Sovereign will. Therefore His people need not fear the time of trouble. It is inevitable that such times will come. It is just as inevitable that the redeemed will experience various effects of those times. What gives us confidence is that Jesus never fails. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. Therefore we do not fear what man shall do to us. David lived a far more perilous life than most of us. If he had confidence in Christ in times of trouble, we also can be confident.    

O God, our Shield and our Defender, 
we rejoice that You preserve Your people. 
We praise You that nothing occurs to them 
that is outside Your providential plan. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

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. 

Psalm 27:4 

Our dwelling place is with Christ. We want to be where He is. David articulated this in our text. Whatever else happened in his life, he wanted to be where Christ was. During David’s lifetime, the place where God showed His glory was the tabernacle. His son, Solomon, would erect the temple, which would replace the tabernacle. Within the tabernacle, and later the temple, would reside the Ark of the Covenant. There the shekinah glory of God would be between the cherubim at the mercy seat. This was where humanity encountered Jehovah. David wanted to be where he could encounter God. The tabernacle and temple bring us to Christ. The various parts of these places of worship depict a variety of elements of the Person and work of Christ. David understood that to dwell in the house of the LORD would be to live in constant communion with Christ, his light and his salvation. Our desire is to be where Christ is. In Psalm 23, David looked forward to God’s eternal day when he would dwell in the house of the LORD forever. That is our desire. The House of Jehovah is where Christ is. It would not be what it is if He was not there. We desire what David did. We look forward to the day when the faith shall be sight. We want to live in the presence of Christ, not just for time, but for eternity. We want to dwell in the house of the LORD. 

Our Great and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You dwell with Your people. 
We praise You that You are preparing a place for us, 
where we may dwell with You. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. 

Psalm 27:3

How shall we respond to dire circumstances? David trusted Christ and placed all his confidence in Him. Thus he could say, ‘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?’ A casual reading of David’s personal history reveals numerous instances when an army encamped against him. Many sought to war against him. He had foes, both foreign and domestic. How could he live in confidence, free from heart-fear? Christ is the answer. Christ was David’s light and his salvation. Christ was the strength of his life. Christ defeated his enemies in the midst of their evil endeavors. Thus even though he faced the most dire situations, David could testify, ‘My heart shall not fear.’ David’s Christ is our Christ. David’s salvation is our salvation. David’s defender is our Defender. His circumstances were often life and death encounters. If David could live without fear in his heart because Christ was his light and his salvation, we can live without fear in our heart for the same reason. He was confident in Christ. We also can be confident in Christ. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. As we go forth day by day to encounter what may be hostile and toxic situations, we can do so trusting in Christ, the portion of His people. 

Our Glorious, Living God, 
we rejoice that You deliver us from fear. 
We praise You that we can face perilous situations, 
knowing You are our Defender. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning