At the end of the last study I wrote about waiting for the Lord, which is where Psalm 27 ends and what we must learn to do better, since God does not usually respond to prayer according to our timetable. We do not expect to have to wait for God forever, of course. But what should we do while we are waiting? The answer is that we need to keep praying, to persevere in prayer. Significantly, this is the point to which Psalm 28 takes us. It is about importunity.
2. We seek to be heard. Sometimes children talk to us only because they want to be listened to, not really caring what we say in response, and unfortunately many parents are too busy to listen. Is God ever too busy to listen when we speak to him? Never! Why don't we do it more often then? The reason is that we are too busy, not God. Or perhaps the reason is our sin or unbelief. Perhaps we do not really believe that God is a true listening parent, a parent who says: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matt. 7:7).
The latter half of Psalm 27 begins with verse 7, as I pointed out earlier, and it is here that we find the abrupt change of language, structure and tone I also mentioned. The verbs change from the first or third person to the second. The earlier affirmations become prayers. The mood changes from confidence to earnest entreaty.
The second stanza of the psalm (vv. 4-6) expresses David's one great desire, which is to "dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of his life" (v. 4). This sounds a great deal like Psalm 23, which ends with David dwelling "in the house of the LORD forever." But there it has to do with heaven, while here, in Psalm 27, the reference is to the earthly tabernacle. Indeed, David seems to be ransacking the Hebrew language for nouns to describe it: "the house of the LORD" (v.4), "his temple" (v. 4), "his dwelling" (v. 5), "his tabernacle” (vv. 5, 6).
In addition to Psalm 27:1, we have to go to the New Testament to find a good parallel between God and light. When we do we find that there "light” is a name for Jesus Christ: "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. . . . The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world" (John 1:5, 9). John, who makes this identification, also says, "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
