Year 5, Day 175: Psalm 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Protection

• Protection: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray that God might deliver us from evil – even the Evil One.  Sometimes we need God’s protection from the sin around us.  Sometimes we need protection from the sinful people around us.  Other times we need protection from the sin that lies within ourselves. In any case, Jesus’ point is clear.  We need protection from the Father to make it through each and every day.

Psalm 27 is a neat psalm of protection.  We can see the dynamic of protection from several angles.

The first experience of protection that we have is the one to which we are accustomed.  The psalmist reminds us that the Lord protects us from our adversaries and our enemies and evildoers.  Of course people will come upon us who intend us harm.  That’s just a part of living in this life.  But in God, we know that in the end we will be held fast and they will be the ones who stumble and fall.

As we go through the psalm, we get a deeper image of how it is that the Lord does protect us.  He protects us by allowing us to dwell in His house.  What an incredible reminder of life eternal!  God will protect us forever by allowing us to dwell with Him.  As the psalmist says, He hides us in His shelter and conceals us in His tent.  God protects us by bringing us into His presence.  When we are with God, we are under His protection.

Finally, we get a perspective of protection with respect to rhythms in life.  It begins in Psalm 27:8 when we are reminded to seek God’s face.  That is, we are to seek His ways.  Our mother and father may forsake us – in other words they might not teach us perfectly how to live in a righteous and upright manner.  But God will not forsake us.  his ways always lead us true.  His ways always lead us into His protection.  His ways keep our lives on the level and true.  Living a godly life is another form of protection that comes from God!

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