◄ Psalm 27:11 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Strengthened In God
Psalm 27:7-12
C. Short
While strengthening himself in God (in the former part of the psalm), he is, perhaps, seized by some sudden fear lest he should be forsaken, or be overcome by the craft or malice of his enemies. Till now the danger which threatens him is as prominent an object as the salvation and defence were before. He earnestly prays now for that in which he had just boasted. And these are the grounds on which he bases the prayer.

I. HE HAD DIVINE WARRANT. The tenor of God's whole Word to man is, "Seek ye my face;" equivalent to "Come unto me for rest, for protection, for salvation." We are but obeying the Divine voice within and without us when we seek for refuge and an escape from all evil in God. Christ emphasized this truth when he cried, "Come unto me, all ye that labour," etc.

II. BECAUSE THERE WAS AN ABIDING RELATION BETWEEN HIM AND GOD. (Ver. 9.) He was God's servant; God had been his Help. The good Master would not cast the servant away in anger. Masters and servants were knit more closely together in early times than now; and the psalmist pleads this relation between them. Then God had helped him in former troubles, and God was too constant to change suddenly and to cast him away. How strong is our claim upon God in Christi He is our Father for ever, and we his children.

III. BECAUSE GOD DRAWS NEARER WHEN THE DEAREST EARTHLY FRIENDS FORSAKE US. (Ver. 10.) Father and mother had forsaken him, and God had taken him up. Trouble often cools the love of human relations, but only increases the Divine pity, and attracts God the more closely to us. The psalmist knew this as a fact of experience, and he could urge it as a plea now in his present distress. Difference between human love, however strong, and the Divine love. No grain or taint of selfishness in the Divine love, which clings to us steadfastly, through all our sins and sorrows.

IV. BECAUSE HE WAS IN DANGER FROM TWO CLASSES OF ENEMIES. (Vers. 11, 12.)

1. The cunning and deceitful. More dangerous than open and violent enemies. Just as we are in more danger from those sins which try to look like virtues, than from sins which we know to be sins. Avarice is thought prudence; pride is self-respect; cruelty claims to be justice, etc.

2. Those who employ open violence. This is dangerous, because urged on by unrestrained passion. Our passions, yielded to and indulged, are dangerous enemies. We have need to pray, "Teach me thy way, and lead me in an even path." - S.

Biblical Illustrator
Lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
Psalm 27:11
Our observers
W. Jay.
Instead of "enemies," the margin reads "observers." And we have many such.

I. THE WORLD — with keen and malignant eye. If we act inconsistently with our profession, they will be sure to notice it and despise us, and our religion accordingly.

II. SAINTS. They observe us from a sense of love and duty; they are commanded to "admonish," "exhort," and "consider one another."

III. MINISTERS are our observers. They are to take heed to the flock over which, etc.

IV. ANGEL OBSERVERS. We are a spectacle to angels as well as to men.

V. ABOVE ALL, GOD OBSERVES US. He bids us walk before Him and be perfect. We are men in secret, but observed at all times. Surely we need wisdom and strength far above our own.

(W. Jay.)

Divine direction
N. Meeres, B. D.
I. THE TEXT IS APPLICABLE TO RELIEVERS IN ALL AGES, SINCE ALL NEED THE SAME DIRECTION AND INSTRUCTION. How many have attempted to reach the summit of Parnassus, from which they might view the flowers of rhetoric and the fruits of philosophy flourishing beneath their feet; but how few have ascended far above the base of the mount before they have been discouraged by its amazing height, when they have returned in despair of ever attaining to such an elevation. Although David prayed to be led in a plain path, yet he neither thought nor expected that this path was to be attended with no difficulties , — free from all pain, and full of unfading pleasure. All that any one can reasonably desire, who prefers the prayer contained in the text, is that God would graciously vouchsafe such guidance, that we may not swerve from that true and living way, marked out in the councils of His love, and made manifest by Him who declares Himself to be the "way, the truth, and the life." One reason why so many mistake the plain path, arises partly from the pride of the human mind, which would rather employ its faculties upon those subjects which relate to things temporal, as bearing upon man's present enjoyment, than direct its energies to the pursuit of those objects which lie beyond the precincts of time, and are connected with unseen and spiritual realities. How often are the most elevated minds and soaring spirits engaged rather in those speculations which tend more to increase scepticism, than to diminish error! How unwilling is the loftiness of intellect to bow to the humiliating doctrine of the Cross! And how reluctant is the philosophic sage to stoop from the heights of scientific discovery, and condescend to the humble condition of a learner at the feet of the despised Nazarene!

II. THE ORDINARY WAY IN WHICH GOD LEADS HIS PEOPLE TO THEIR HEAVENLY REST, Surely the rewards and punishments of another life, which the Almighty has established as the enforcements of His law, are of sufficient weight to determine the choice, against whatever pleasure or pain this life can show, when the eternal state is considered in reference merely to its bare possibility, of which possibility no one can have any doubt. If the good man be in the right, be is eternally happy; if he mistakes, he is not miserable, for he feels nothing. On the other hand, if the wicked be in the right, he is not happy; if he mistakes, he is infinitely miserable. But in that manifestation of mercy; vouchsafed by that better and brighter dispensation made known by Christ, we are not left to mere hypothesis in order to elucidate the vast extremes of infinite felicity and eternal misery. Since life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel, we can behold in the mirror of Revelation that light and joy, which we could not see inscribed in the fairest productions of Nature, nor ever attain, in the ample reign of philosophical research or metaphysical discussion, but in the path marked out by Him who hath left us an example that we should walk in His steps.

(N. Meeres, B. D.)

Safe leading amid many dangers
Christian Commonwealth.
As a great ocean steamer nears a coast., the captain and helmsman need a minuteness of knowledge which they do not possess. Unknown dangers, hidden rocks and shoals, are all around them. So a pilot comes off from shore, climbs on board, and takes his place at the wheel. Instantly the control of the ship is transferred from ignorance to knowledge and incompetency to ability. Just, such a transfer takes place in a life that is surrendered to the Infinite Pilot. He knows every sea, to the least shifting bar and the slightest wind that blows. He will bring us to the desired haven.

(Christian Commonwealth.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Beholders, Clear, Enemies, Foes, Guiding, Haters, Lead, Level, Lie, O, Oppressors, Path, Plain, Sake, Shew, Straight, Teach, Uprightness, Wait
Outline
1. David sustains his faith by prayer

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 27:11

     8128   guidance, receiving
     8168   way, the
     8351   teachableness

Psalm 27:7-12

     8640   calling upon God

Library
March 1. "Wait on the Lord" (Ps. xxvii. 14).
"Wait on the Lord" (Ps. xxvii. 14). How often this is said in the Bible, how little understood! It is what the old monk calls the "practice of the presence of God." It is the habit of prayer. It is the continued communion that not only asks, but receives. People often ask us to pray for them and we have to say, "Why, God has answered our prayer for you, and you must now take the answer. It is awaiting you, and you must take it by waiting on the Lord." This it is that renews the strength, until we …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

God's Guests
'One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.' --PSALM xxvii. 4. We shall do great injustice to this mystical aspiration of the Psalmist, if we degrade it to be the mere expression of a desire for unbroken residence in a material Temple. He was no sickly, sentimental seeker after cloistered seclusion. He knew the necessities and duties of life far better than in a cowardly way to wish to shirk them, in order that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Seek Ye' --'I Will Seek'
'When Thou saidst, Seek ye my face; My heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. 9. Hide not Thy face far from me.' --PSALM xxvii. 8, 9. We have here a report of a brief dialogue between God and a devout soul. The Psalmist tells us of God's invitation and of his acceptance, and on both he builds the prayer that the face which he had been bidden to seek, and had sought, may not be hid from him. The correspondence between what God said to him and what he said to God is even more emphatically …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Of the Proving of the True Lover
"My Son, thou art not yet strong and prudent in thy love." 2. Wherefore, O my Lord? 3. "Because for a little opposition thou fallest away from thy undertakings, and too eagerly seekest after consolation. The strong lover standeth fast in temptations, and believeth not the evil persuasions of the enemy. As in prosperity I please him, so in adversity I do not displease. 4. "The prudent lover considereth not the gift of the lover so much as the love of the giver. He looketh for the affection more …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Another Wonderful Record of 25.
A Christian minister, living in Northern Indiana, was in want, and knelt in prayer again and again before his Father in heaven. His quarterly allowance had been withheld, and want stared him in the face. Constrained by urgent need, and shut up to God for help, he pleaded repeatedly for a supply of his temporal wants. Now see how extraordinary was the plan of the Lord to send relief. "In one of the lovely homes of Massachusetts, while the snow was falling and the winds were howling without, a lady …
Various—The Wonders of Prayer

Prayer in the Unconverted.
"When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." --Psalm xxvii. 8. The faculty of prayer is not an acquisition of later years, but is created in us, inherent in the root of our being, inseparable from our nature. And yet consistent with this fact is the fact that the great majority of men do not pray. It is possible to possess a faculty dormant in us for a whole lifetime. The Malay possesses the faculty for studying modern languages as well as we, but he …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

In his Tabernacle
"One thing have I desired 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 behold the beauty of the Lord."--Ps. xxvii. 4. T. S. M. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 Not built with hands is that fair radiant chamber Of God's untroubled rest-- Where Christ awaits to lay His weary-hearted In stillness on His breast. Not built on sands of time or place to perish, When tempests roar-- But on the mighty Rock of Ages founded, It stands for evermore-- …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

The Habitation of God
Gerhard Ter Steegen Ps. xxvii. 4 Here on earth a temple stands, Temple never built with hands; There the Lord doth fill the place With the glory of His grace. Cleansed by Christ's atoning Blood, Thou art this fair House of God. Thoughts, desires, that enter there, Should they not be pure and fair? Meet for holy courts and blest, Courts of stillness and of rest, Where the soul, a priest in white, Singeth praises day and night; Glory of the love divine Filling all this heart of thine. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

Seeking the Lord's Face. --Psalm xxvii.
Seeking the Lord's Face.--Psalm xxvii. One thing, with all my soul's desire, I sought and will pursue; What Thine own Spirit doth inspire, Lord, for Thy servant do. Grant me within Thy courts a place, Among Thy saints a seat, For ever to behold Thy face, And worship at Thy feet. In Thy pavilion to abide, When storms of trouble blow, And in Thy tabernacle hide, Secure from every foe. "Seek ye My face-" without delay, When thus I hear Thee speak, My heart would leap for joy, and say, "Thy face, …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

The Exile --Continued.
As our purpose in this volume is not a complete biography, it will not be necessary to dwell on the subsequent portions of the exile, inasmuch as there is little reference to these in the psalms. We must pass over even that exquisite episode of Abigail, whose graceful presence and "most subtle flow of silver-paced counsel" soothed David's ruffled spirit, and led him captive at once as in a silken leash. The glimpse of old-world ways in the story, the rough mirth of the shearers, the hint of the kind …
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

Why Should we not Believe These to be Angelic Operations through Dispensation of The...
16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things and evil, according to the unsearchable depth of His judgments? whether thereby the minds of mortals be instructed, or whether deceived; whether consoled, or whether terrified: according as unto each one there is to be either a showing of mercy, or a taking of vengeance, by Him to Whom, not without a meaning, the Church doth sing "of mercy and of judgment." …
St. Augustine—On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

Epistle vi. To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari).
To Januarius, Bishop of Caralis (Cagliari). Gregory to Januarius, &c. The Jews who have come hither from your city have complained to us that Peter, who has been brought by the will of God from their superstition to the worship of Christian faith, having taken with him certain disorderly persons, on the day after his baptism, that is on the Lord's day of the very Paschal festival, with grave scandal and without your consent, had taken possession of their synagogue in Caralis, and placed there the …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The victory of Unarmed Faith
'And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 34. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock; 35. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Fundamental Oneness of the Dispensations.
Hebrews iii. i-iv. 13 (R.V.). "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High-priest of our confession, even Jesus; who was faithful to Him that appointed Him as also was Moses in all his house. For He hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he that built the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some one; but He that built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews

Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Out of the Deep of Fear and Anxiety.
My heart is disquieted within me. Tearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and an horrible dread hath overwhelmed me.--Ps. lv. 4. Thou hast proved and visited my heart in the night season--Ps. xvii. 3. Nevertheless though I am sometimes afraid, yet put I my trust in Thee.--Ps. lv. 3. 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?--Ps. xxvii. 1. I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fear.--Ps. …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

The Acceptable Sacrifice;
OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART: SHOWING THE NATURE, SIGNS, AND PROPER EFFECTS OF A CONTRITE SPIRIT. BEING THE LAST WORKS OF THAT EMINENT PREACHER AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST, MR. JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD. WITH A PREFACE PREFIXED THEREUNTO BY AN EMINENT MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN LONDON. London: Sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgates, 1692. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The very excellent preface to this treatise, written by George Cokayn, will inform the reader of …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

I Fear, I Say, Greatly for Thee, Lest...
39. I fear, I say, greatly for thee, lest, when thou boastest that thou wilt follow the Lamb wheresoever He shall have gone, thou be unable by reason of swelling pride to follow Him through strait ways. It is good for thee, O virgin soul, that thus, as thou art a virgin, thus altogether keeping in thy heart that thou hast been born again, keeping in thy flesh that thou hast been born, thou yet conceive of the fear of the Lord, and give birth to the spirit of salvation. [2142] "Fear," indeed, "there …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

Of Faith. The Definition of It. Its Peculiar Properties.
1. A brief recapitulation of the leading points of the whole discussion. The scope of this chapter. The necessity of the doctrine of faith. This doctrine obscured by the Schoolmen, who make God the object of faith, without referring to Christ. The Schoolmen refuted by various passages. 2. The dogma of implicit faith refuted. It destroys faith, which consists in a knowledge of the divine will. What this will is, and how necessary the knowledge of it. 3. Many things are and will continue to be implicitly …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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