Transcript
There is just no doubt about it. Psalm 27 has been a dear friend to me, as I face things that I thought I would never face. I've gone back to Psalm 27 again and again. I have been comforted and warned by what is there? Psalm 27 was written by David in one of two very dark and difficult periods of his life.
When David Fled From Saul
Some scholars think that it was written when David was fleeing from the jealous anger of King Saul. David had been a wonderful, faithful servant of King Saul, but God's anointing was on David and David was doing amazing things; and Saul was eaten by jealousy and was out to do David harm. David ended up fleeing from the palace and living in a cave. It was a situation of gross personal injustice. Or other scholars say that Psalm 27 was written when David was fleeing from his own son who had conspired to take his throne. If it's a monarchy, that means the king's probably going to have to die.
It's hard to imagine what it would like to go through that form of horrible family betrayal. It's out of one of those two experiences that none of us would want to be in, that David writes Psalm 27. Psalm 27 is a psalm of trouble, but what's remarkable about Psalm 27 is it doesn't begin with trouble. It begins with theology and there's a lesson right there for us that there's never a point in your life when the good, clear theology of scripture is more important than when you're going through suffering because you will preach some kind of theology to yourself.
It's inescapable because you're a theologian. You're a philosopher. You're an archeologist. You'll dig through the mount of your experience to make sense out of your life. David says, in the midst of these dark, heartbreaking things, "The Lord is my light. The Lord is my salvation. The Lord is my stronghold."
What is light? It's what is true and pure and holy and just. What is salvation? In the biggest sense of it, it means deliverance from evil. What is stronghold? It's a place of refuge. Now, notice the personal nature of this theology. He's not saying somewhere out there is light, somewhere out there is salvation, somewhere out there is stronghold. He's saying, "The Lord is my light. The Lord is my salvation. The Lord is my stronghold."
A Big My in the Middle of Your Theology
When you're suffering, there better be a big "my" in the middle of your theology or it's not the theology of the word of God. God is saying, "I am these things for you." In that way, the theology of scripture is not just meant to define who God is, but it's meant to redefine who you are as a child of God.
"This is who I am. I'm not just suffering. I am attached by grace to the One who is light. I'm attached by grace to the One who is salvation. I'm attached by grace to the One who is stronghold and you can tell just by the way I'm talking that that lifts your heart. It lifts your hope. It gives you a reason to get up in the morning. That's what good theology does.
The circumstances around you haven't changed, but you've changed because you've embraced truths that give life and give hope. Remember the warning of Psalm 27. You will always preach some kind of theology to yourself in your suffering. It will either be the liberating, hope-giving, motivating theology of the word of God or it will be the discouraging, hope-robbing, demotivating false theology of the world. Preach to yourself the good theology of the word of God and suffer with hope.
