March 11: Psalm 27

Today's reading.

This psalm both expresses confidence in the Lord and calls us to confidence. God is our light and salvation and stronghold (27:1); he is in his temple, where his beauty may be found (27.4); he is a shelter where we are safe (27:5), and the one who leads us on a straight path (27:11). If we are ever tempted to fear, we can find comfort, not only in who God is, but in who he is for us.

In Christ, God has made himself available to us in ways beyond all comprehension. The fact that we could claim to know God in a unique way is simply galling to the wisdom of this world. How could we believe there is something unique about the way we know God that other religions don't have? What makes us so special? Who do we think we are?

The answer to these questions has nothing to do with us or what we could say, and everything to do with God and what he has said: "You have said, 'Seek my face.' My heart says to you, 'Your face, LORD, do I seek'" (27:8).

Our response of humble faith comes from what we have heard, not from what we have seen or done. We have heard God's command. We have heard his gospel. We seek the Lord's face in humble, obedient response to the grace of his gospel. We desperately seek God's face, his ways, his call, because of grace.

We could never seek God's face if we didn't hear his voice. Thank God we've heard, not the terrible voice of Sinai, but the peaceful sermon of our faithful Savior (Eph. 2:17). In Christ, we hear divine peace. And so we respond as servants who seek his face.