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!
Blessed by David’s confidence.
These words of confident prayer for help while in the midst of his enemies and difficulties were penned by King David. They are of great comfort to us for they express the great faith and assurance we would like to have all the time. The Lord is our light to guide us into truth, to dispel fear and the evil one. He is our salvation who delivers us from our foes as well as from temptation. He is our stronghold who protects us during the storms of life that rage all around us even dispelling some of them without our awareness. We know these truths and desire to experience them all the time, but we are all too prone to doubt and fear. In these times of distress and uncertainty we often put more faith in the fears and follies of sinful men, the lies of the devil and our own doubts and imperfect knowledge than we do in the promises of the Lord.
Most of the time our prayers are like those David prays in the latter part of this Psalm. We pray fretfully in the midst of our trials on the verge of despair. We call out to the Lord but we do not perceive His voice. We don’t feel His hand of comfort. We don’t see His light to show us the clear path that we must follow. We do not feel the strength of His protection. We thinking he is angry with us and had deserted us. In such times we must be patient and wait for the Lord. We may be tempted to despair. Yet God is faithful in His promises even when we falter angels fail. The word of God confirms that Jesus has not forgotten us. He will act to help us in His own time and He never arrives late.