“God Is Our Stronghold”
Psalm 27
Today’s psalm begins with the proclamation, “The Lord is my light.” The Psalmist, most likely David, then goes on to proclaim that God is his salvation and is the stronghold of his life. One significant aspect of these metaphors is the use of the possessive. There is an intimacy in the use of the first-person address: "My." This language indicates that David and God have a close relationship and are not strangers. Second, the poetry of the verse pairs "my light" and "my salvation" with "stronghold of my life." In today’s sermon, we will explore three metaphors: God as light, salvation, and a stronghold for us.
How God is light.
Light is so essential in a world often shrouded in darkness. I have many memories of how light has comforted me over the decades of my life- I remember my orange nightlight squirrel from when I was a toddler. As long as that night light glowed through the darkness, I felt safe. I remember the first time I saw sunlight shining through a stained-glass window in a small chapel and experiencing the presence of God as a 5-year-old child. I remember the first time I saw lights on a Christmas tree, and how beautiful it was (and still is to me every time I see them). Light is lovely, comforting, and at times, can guide us through the darkness.
The psalmist is in a very dark place-evildoers, adversaries, and foes surround him. An army looms on the horizon. False witnesses speak words of violence and lies. Shadows surround David. He needs God’s comfort. For David, God is his light. Just as it was true for David, so is it true for us-God’s light can help us walk down the right path, help us in the midst of challenging times, and can help us find our way, even in the dark.
I have an illustration that fits. One of my favorite places on our church grounds is not where you would expect it to be. I love praying in the sanctuary in the morning. I love going into the chapel in the afternoon after a cold morning, as the sun streams through the stained-glass windows, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere. But the place I go to after a difficult meeting, or complicated conversation, or just a rough day is our staff bathroom in the admin building. I love to go there, especially in the late afternoon. The sun shines right through the skylight roof window in the ceiling, and a sunbeam of warmth and light envelops me as I stand there in the brightness. I feel the warmth and light, remember that no matter what, God is my light, and say “Thank you”.
In the psalm, David struggles between light and dark, between confidence and despair. At times, he can keep his focus upon the light before him, and at times the darkness overwhelms. Perhaps David needed a staff bathroom with a sunlight? He begins well enough, as Verses 1-6 are statements of confidence, a sense that God is present and will hide and protect David from his enemies. David offers sacrifices of praise and joy to God. He has hope as he focuses on God’s light and presence.
Then come verses 7-12, where David’s confidence wanes as he fears his circumstances, gazing at the darkness that surrounds him. “Hear O Lord when I cry aloud! Be gracious to me and answer me! Come, my heart says, seek God’s face- Your face, O Lord, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me.” In the midst of his difficult circumstances, David shifts his focus from God’s light to the shadows all around him. He sees the danger, the violence, and the war raging around him, and he begins to fear that God will not be with him in the darkness. He loses all hope.There are those moments in our lives when the darkness seems so strong, when all we see are the shadows around us; a loved one dies; we are diagnosed with some disease or declining health; We end up in the hospital; We wonder how we can put food on the table with a shrinking income; we worry about our nation and the potential loss of democracy; One of our children or grandchildren is in crisis. In those moments of despair and struggle, the darkness seems overwhelming, vast. We take our focus off the light, the shadows envelop us, and we, too, can lose all hope. It is in such moments that we need to seek God’s face and look for God’s light. French spiritual writer Michel Quoist wrote, “We must welcome the night. It is the only time that the stars shine.” In such times, we must look for the stars and remember that a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it, EVER.
How God is our salvation
The evangelist Tony Campolo recounts the story of the African American Baptist church he served in Philadelphia, which celebrates Student Recognition Day every year. Once, after a few students had spoken, one of the pastors strode to the pulpit and started his sermon in a rather abrupt way: "Young people, you may not think you’re going to die, but you are. One of these days, they’ll take you to the cemetery, drop you in a hole, throw some dirt on your face, and go back to the church and eat potato salad" (Perceptions, Maxie Dunnam, p. 25).
Friends, the potato salad promise is, quite simply, that all of us are going to die- Absolutely guaranteed. But our response to this promise can be to die living, instead of to live dying. That is what salvation is all about- We are saved from death through Christ, who has gone to prepare a place for us, eternal in the heavens. The promise of salvation is even greater and more certain than the potato salad promise. That promise of salvation extends to our daily struggle to walk the path God intends for us. For no matter how hard we try, ultimately, we fail- we use our hearts, our hands, our voices for violence, for hatred, for excess. And yet, if we confess our sins, God is abundant in grace. Then God renews and restores us. Salvation enables us to be righteous before God and to start anew, sharing God’s love through our actions. Salvation also reminds us that there is a place waiting for us, eternal in heaven, thanks to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Salvation helps us to die living, instead of to live dying.
That brings us to the third and final metaphor David lifts up at the beginning of the psalm:
How God is our stronghold
The "stronghold of my life" adds a sense of protection and power. The Hebrew word ma‘oz ("stronghold") suggests a place of safety or protection from those who would do physical harm (cf. Ps 31:2) For those of you who have read the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, or who have seen the movies, I am sure you remember the scene when the people of Rohan are forced to retreat to their stronghold, a place known as “Helm’s Deep”. Helm’s Deep had never fallen in the long history of the people of Rohan. It was a place of safety and strength. And in the battle for Helm’s Deep against the evil wizard Saruman and his Orc army, it would prove decisive once again as Gandalf and his armies come to the rescue and rout the evil army.
A stronghold is a place of predominance- where one prevails in the midst of difficult circumstances. David understands that God is his stronghold because God is his light, which shines in the darkness, and his salvation, which allows him to live. By the time David writes verses 13-14, he has entered his stronghold of faith and found hope, comfort, guidance, and peace once again. He says, “I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Then he encourages his readers and listeners, and David addresses us, here today in confidence, saying, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.”
Waiting, however, is far from easy. This is especially true in the society we live in, where there are high expectations of instant gratification. In the past, when I needed something, I would go to a store and try to find it. Sometimes I would even go to the mall, especially if what I was looking for was clothing-related. Sometimes, what I was looking for was out of stock, and I would fill out a raincheck and be notified when it was back in stock a couple of weeks later. Remember those days?!? Now, I can go on my computer, head to Amazon.com, find what I am looking for within just a couple of minutes, and often have it delivered to my front door the next day. Friends, God does not work like Amazon.
When we lost our first child, Sarah Rose, in January of 1992, after having fulfilled the role of being parents for almost two years, suddenly, Paula and I were just a couple once again, not a mom or dad. It felt so strange. I felt pretty directionless, even as I attended seminary, tried to learn Greek and Hebrew, and hoped to graduate with a master’s degree in theology. Both of us went through at least a year of grieving, followed by nearly three years of the desire to be parents once again.
I graduated and received my first call at Faith Presbyterian Church in Sacramento in 1994. It would be another two years of waiting before we could become parents again, as we had adopted our son, Sam, in January 1996. The timing then was tricky, as we said goodbye to Paula’s mother at her memorial service one day and then went the very next day to hold our newborn son in our arms. Once we became parents again, we were still grieving over the loss of Paula’s mother, Dorothy. It was literally the circle of life in that moment as we held Sam. Five years later, Abby was born, and our hearts were full.
In those times when we are waiting for God, we need to remember our stronghold. Theologian Elisabeth Elliot wrote, “Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting one’s heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon your thoughts.”
Are you facing some difficulties? Is there some incredibly dark situation in your life that seems to overpower the light? The psalmist addresses you, here and now, to go to your stronghold of faith, to “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord.” God’s light will shine in the shadows and help you to see things as they truly are. God’s saving grace is always there. And you will know that God is present, offering hope, comfort, guidance, and peace. May God be with us in our strongholds of faith, shining before us, delivering us from death and sin, as we too take courage and wait for the Lord. Alleluia. Amen.
