In the land of the living

Psalm 27

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?

When evildoers assail me

    to eat up my flesh,

my adversaries and foes,

    it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,

    my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

    yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

    that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

    all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

    and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter

    in the day of trouble;

he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;

    he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up

    above my enemies all around me,

and I will offer in his tent

    sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;

    be gracious to me and answer me!

You have said, “Seek my face.”

My heart says to you,

    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

    Hide not your face from me.

Turn not your servant away in anger,

    O you who have been my help.

Cast me not off; forsake me not,

    O God of my salvation!

For my father and my mother have forsaken me,

    but the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord,

    and lead me on a level path

    because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;

    for false witnesses have risen against me,

    and they breathe out violence.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

    in the land of the living!

Wait for the Lord;

    be strong, and let your heart take courage;

    wait for the Lord!

I had the pleasure last Sunday of worshiping with my brothers and sisters at Arlington Countryside Church in Arlington Heights.  This was the church that held me up during some of the hardest times I’ve yet had to endure, and they bore with me patiently during years when I was not handling it well.  It was pure joy to be with them now, remembering where I was and what the Lord did through them and has done since.  To augment the blessing, I also heard a wonderful sermon from the life of Moses.

In this sermon, taken from the point where Moses is commissioned by God to where he arrives in Egypt, Pastor Dave dwelt on the fact that God was showing Moses very clearly who He is.  He gave Moses clear pictures of His sovereignty, His holiness, and His faithfulness.  These truths about God were things that Moses could carry with him through the difficult days to come.  When Pharaoh continually refused to let the people go, when Israel refused to trust that God would deliver them, when it seemed like there was no hope in his mission, Moses could hold on to these truths and be encouraged to endure.

In this psalm we see a similar picture.  We see David actively remembering God in the time of his trials.  If we begin in the middle of the psalm, we see David’s request to God that he not be turned away or forsaken despite his being forsaken even by his mother and father.  We see him ask God not to hide his face.  We see that his adversaries are rising up against him.  This, then, is the context of his initial statement.  “The Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

It is difficult in times of hardship to say this.  Often I have an answer ready.  Whom shall I fear?  Well, poverty.  The guy actively trying to get me fired.  Loneliness.  Despair.  These things could overtake me, and what can I do about them?  David answers this question brilliantly.  “When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.”  He could look to the future and fear what is to come, but instead he looks to the past and finds hope for the future.  When he has been in trouble in the past, God has helped him.  When trouble overtakes him in the future, God will help him.  In the midst of the troubles of today, he finds faith to believe that God will carry him through.

The desire of David’s heart, as we see here and in many other places, is to dwell in the house of the Lord.  He earnestly seeks God, even as God has commanded him and us.  It is easy in the time of trial to simply hold to the hope of heaven and to despair of all else.  And certainly we do believe that heaven is the ultimate fulfillment of our hope.  But it is not the only fulfillment.  Even when David speaks of dwelling in the house of the Lord, I do not get the idea that he is simply speaking of the resurrection.  He says “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!”  Being saved from his enemies is not something that is simply far off, it is also something to come very soon.

A friend of mine once, speaking of heaven, expressed concern about how many people seem to be dwelling on the wrong thing.  We look to the resurrection and see only an end to suffering.  That places all of the emphasis on our own suffering now, and the desire for it to be over.  Rather, we ought to look to the joy of dwelling fully with God.  That is the deepest hope of heaven.  Yes, suffering will end, but an end to suffering is not the end.  In place of the suffering we will have a full and complete joy.  To me, this makes heaven an even greater thing to hope for.  It also corrects my perspective about this life.  If the fulfillment of the promise is only an end to suffering, then I will see this world simply as a place where I suffer.  God, then, is waiting to bless me and give me good gifts.  He will not do it in this life, but will wait until I die.  What folly!  If the hope of heaven is joy with God, dwelling with Him fully, then the hope of life is also joy with God, and dwelling with Him even imperfectly.  The God who desires to give us joy for eternity also desires to give us joy in this life.

Lest this start to sound like prosperity teaching, I will again mention that trials will come.  There will be trials.  Creation itself groans to see the final redemption of God.  And there will, for most of us, come a time of suffering that will not be ended this side of heaven.  But nonetheless, it is certain that God desires good things for us in this life.  And even in the midst of suffering we can find joy as we share in the sufferings of Christ.

The example given us by godly men is to remember what God has done.  Remembering what God has done, we get glimpses of what God will do.  David remembered it and found hope for the future.  Moses remembered and found endurance to continue in his mission even when all seemed lost.  We remember, and we press on.

David’s final statement is beautiful.  “Wait for the Lord.”  He doesn’t allow despair to overtake him, because he believes that God will answer.  He doesn’t try to achieve salvation for himself, because he knows that God is his helper.  So he is also able to say “be strong, and let your heart take courage”.  Do not wilt under the trials that you now face.  Do not give up hope, but knowing what God has done, face whatever trials may come.  The Lord will answer.  The Lord will overcome.  Wait for the Lord.