PSALM 27

The Twenty-seventh Psalm is one of the great treatments or meditations in the Bible. Treatment is a convenient technical term we use for Scientific Prayer, which is directed to the overcoming of a specific difficulty. When trouble of any kind comes into one’s life it is because he has allowed his consciousness to fall to the level where fear and limitation can reach him. A treatment consists in working on one’s consciousness to raise it to the spiritual level where the trouble, whatever it is, disappears. Any mental activity which enables us thus to raise the spiritual standard of the soul is a form of prayer, and the Bible abounds in such forms.

The history of a problem or a difficulty is often this: The student is worried about something, or he feels ill. As soon as he realizes what has happened he, owing to his knowledge of Truth, declines to accept the condition at its face value in the way that most people do; and he proceeds, in one way or another, perhaps with the help of a prayer such as this, to bring about the necessary raising of his thought. He reads the Psalm carefully, interprets it spiritually, allows his mind to dwell upon the principles enunciated, appropriates them to himself, and repudiates the negative suggestion, whatever it was, thus regaining his peace of mind. And when this has been accomplished the trouble is found to disappear.

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?

This one verse is a perfect little treatment in itself; indeed it is one of the most complete texts in the whole Bible. It is a text that might well be written up over the portals of every church and every school in the land, for within it is contained in embryo the complete Jesus Christ message. Consider what it says. It postulates not merely the existence of God, but the living Presence of God in man, for the Lord here means your own Indwelling Christ, the I AM. Then it goes on to state that God in you, the Inner Light, is no mere passive or static presence, but a dynamic power to do everything for you that you can possibly need to have done. Just consider what this one phrase promises—light, salvation, and strength.

You will find that these three words cover very completely everything that man needs, for they really mean understanding, power, and demonstration—and what more can you want than that?

To begin with light. “There is no darkness but ignorance,” and in the last analysis all human weaknesses and tribulations are really but a lack of the Divine Light. “Light, more light,” said the dying Goethe, and that has been the intuitive cry of humanity through all its history. But God is Light, the Bible tells us, and in Him is no darkness at all; and Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” If you look back over your own life, you will be certain to find that a great many of your troubles arose through no intentional fault of yours but through your ignorance or inexperience, or through your want of realizing to the full the implication of some situation which you had to meet. In other words, you suffered through want of light. Well, here the Bible explains that the Divine Power in you will be your light, and that you can train yourself to utilize it as such at any time that you need it.

The Lord is the strength of my life. Having promised us light, the Psalm now goes on to promise strength or power. We are to have power to do whatever we need to do, to meet whatever we need to meet, to tackle any problem or difficulty that can present itself in our lives. We are, in fact, to be “endued with power from on high” and need no longer trust to our own inadequate efforts. God will show us at any time the meaning of anything that we require to understand, will show us at any juncture what it is we ought to do, and He will furnish us with Divine strength to do it.

This wonderful verse then sums up its great message in the word “salvation,” which, of course, means all-round harmony and demonstration; and with the penetrating psychological skill so characteristic of the Bible when it deals with the soul of man, it obliges us to ask ourselves, point blank, what there is now to be afraid of. And anyone who accepts the premises will hardly have any trouble in reaching the conclusion that there is nothing to be afraid of, because God lives and reigns—and then the back of the trouble is already broken.

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Of course, “the wicked,” and “mine enemies,” as always in the Bible, stand for our own thoughts, for our fears and doubts of every kind; and truly indeed do they sometimes come upon us as though “to eat up our flesh”—most people have at some time or other been only too painfully conscious of the aptness of this telling simile—and here you are promised that they shall stumble and fall.

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Here the Psalmist reiterates his confidence and makes us, his readers, reiterate ours. He makes us say that our hearts shall not fear, and he makes us believe it too, and can you think of any more beautiful assurance in the world than just that one—“my heart shall not fear”? When you can say quietly and truthfully at any hour of the day or night “my heart shall not fear,” the world has no more power over you—you are free. War of various kinds may rise up against you, but you will be confident, and therefore you will be victorious.

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, and to enquire in his temple.

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

These two verses constitute a remarkable expression of what is often called the second birth. Briefly this means that a man or woman has taken the most important step that a human being can take, that vital step in comparison with which all other experiences are of relatively minor importance. The new birth or second birth, or what you may be pleased to call it, means that you clearly understand and definitely accept the fact that nothing matters except attunement with God. When you can honestly say, “I realize now that nothing in life really matters except that I get my conscious attunement with God—because when I have that, everything else will rightly follow, and until I do get that nothing else can be right—and I am going to make everything else secondary to that,” then you have really experienced the new birth whether the realization itself has yet arrived or not. When you have reached that stage you do not allow any external happening really to grieve you, or frighten you, or hurt you very deeply, because you know that external things are but passing shadows of no permanent importance. And now because they cannot bind you they cannot hurt you, and so you are free. And above all you do not allow the delaying of the realization itself to fret you to discourage you in the least because you know the Truth, even if you do not feel it.

This steadfast determination to dwell in the house of the Lord, to behold His beauty and to learn His secrets, means that you are set upon a rock and that your house of life is secure (see Matthew 7:24–27).

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

This verse closes the first section of the treatment with a burst of that praise and thanksgiving that is so powerful for demonstration. Singing in the Bible is always the supreme expression of joy and exaltation, as we know. We note here that to “have your head lifted above your enemies” is not merely a graphic figure of victory but is an important metaphysical symbol. The head is the bodily expression for man’s power of knowing Divine Truth—his Christ faculty we call it—and it is, of course, by an increase of understanding that we overcome limitation.

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.

The Psalmist here employs the dramatic form of addressing God. This gives the prayer vividness and intensity; but he is really affirming that God does hear us when we “cry with our voice” or “speak the Word,” as we would say. He goes on to claim in different ways that God answers prayer. The actual affirmative form is usually the most effective form for healing a definite condition; but do not hesitate to address God when you feel so inclined. Do not abandon any kind of prayer. In fact, do not give up anything in your religious life that you find to be helpful. This Christ Truth comes to us not to destroy but to fulfil; not to rob us of anything good, but to give us more and more of the All-Good.

Seek ye my face. Of course, this does not mean that God has a limited, material face like a man or woman. It is a well known symbol. It is true that in many of the great classical pictures, God is represented as a man—usually a man round about sixty years of age, and wearing a beard. But this was a well understood artistic convention. A man at that age was assumed to have attained the maximum degree of wisdom, and so it was really a symbolical way of expressing Divine Wisdom. The face, in fact, symbolizes the power of recognition. In everyday life it is by the face that we recognize people, not usually by their hands or feet, for example, and to seek the face of God means to seek a recognition of God’s Presence to the point of realization, so that we “know” Him by experiencing Him. When we find a difficulty in getting our spiritual contact, it is as though God had hidden His face. Of course, God never does that, but we allow a veil of selfishness, doubt, and fear to come between us and Him. People sometimes speak of the sun having “gone in” when they really mean that a cloud has come between the sun and them, but, of course, everyone knows that the sun is shining unchanged on the other side of the cloud.

The Psalmist now strongly affirms this fact that God cannot and will not “hide His face” from His children, and he drives his point home by saying that even if his father and mother were to desert him, God would not do so. In the Orient where the family link is so strong that it overrides all private and personal considerations, this is a very telling statement indeed.

In other words, this section of the treatment shows us that doubts and fears may assail the Psalmist in the midst of his prayer—as they assail us all at times—but that he meets and vanquishes them in the scientific way.

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.

The Psalmist now prays for spiritual understanding and for peace of mind. The enemies, as always, are his own fears, and these fears take their rise in the fact that “false witnesses” rise up and confront him. And no one who has been through this experience will doubt the appropriateness of that telling phrase that our fears are things “such as breathe out cruelty.” Verily, doubt and fear are the cruelest things that can come into the life of man.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Here, the Psalmist following up the rhythmical play and interplay of thought, characteristic of the Bible, once more makes it clear to his own mind that his reliance is indeed entirely upon the Divine Power, and not upon his own limited resources, his intellect, or his will power, for instance. He says that unless he had believed God would perform the necessary miracle, he would not have expected it to happen at all.

The closing phrase is a powerful exhortation to be active and steadfast in prayer—that you ought always to pray and not to faint. To “wait upon the Lord” does not in the least mean neglecting a problem in the hope that God will come along and solve it for you. It means intensifying spiritual activity. Waiting on the Lord means praying constantly and systematically about your problem. The effect of this will be to “strengthen your heart,” which means that you will receive encouragement and power to continue your prayers; and that your consciousness will be gradually changed until your problem melts away altogether in the realization of restored harmony and peace. Thus does God answer prayer.

1. The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

2. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.

3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

4. He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

5. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

6. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

8. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

10. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

EMMET FOX