We turn our attention again to Psalm 27.  It was written during the dark days of running from Saul.  Saul has commanded Doeg to kill the priest who aided and comforted David.  He has fled in fear for his life.

Faith and fear live next door to one another in the Christian life.  It is but one roller coaster ride from faith to fear.  Notice our text for this week, which is, verses 7-12.  It is here David deals with his fears when he says, “Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek. Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.”

In dealing with fear David ponders five different subjects of truth.  In verse 7 he deals with the ‘Truth of Favor’.  He moves like a roller coaster from verse 6 to verse 7, from praise to prayer.  David knows well how to use both of these spiritual instruments.  He asks for the LORD to ‘hear’ him, to give him an audience and to turn his ear his way.  The favor David asks for is ‘mercy’.  This is for God to withhold what one deserves.  Oh, if God gave us what we deserve who would be left standing.  How God’s mercy will calm our fears. 

David also deals with his fears by looking at the truth about ‘God’s Face’.  To know the face of God is to know His blessings, power, and authority.  There is a word that comes from the LORD, ‘Seek ye my face’, and David says in his heart, ‘Thy face, LORD, will I seek’.  The heart is the center of man’s spiritual well being.  To say it with the mouth is one thing but quite another when said with the heart.  David is so quick with his obedience unto the LORD.  May we ever hunger and thirst after His face.  To see the smile of His face will calm all our fears.

In verses 9-10 David immediately goes into fear mode when he speaks of the truth of being ‘Forsaken’.  David asks for the LORD not to ‘leave’ him.  The word ‘leave’ has the idea of to abandon, to lose, or go away from.  How fear can give us these feelings.  In verse 10a David focuses in on the ‘forsaking by his father and mother’.  He has taken them into exile to the King of Moab.  This was the land of his great -grandmother, Ruth.  We never hear of them again.  There may be times when our parents will not help when we stand in need of help.  They may not help us when they could.  They may not help us simply because they are not able.  Whatever the situation, David decides to focus on the fact that the ‘LORD will take him up’.  This phrase means to take into His personal care and concern.  The LORD’S care will calm all our fears.

In verse 11 David speaks of the truth of the ‘Future’.  He asks for the LORD to teach him about a ‘plain path’.  It is a one-laner.  This is the cure for all decisions that involve multiple choices. 

Oh, how choices bring fear of the unknown.  When there is but one choice all fears fly away.

In verse 12 he deals with the truth of his ‘Foes’.  He asks God not to let ‘the foes of slander overtake him’.  Once again fear has overtaken faith.  In our lives, fears will come and go.  Let us remember to look again by faith to the precious words of our LORD.  When the Word is relied upon, fears must flee.