06/16/2026
My Favorite Psalm:
Psalm 27
by Brother John Breon
One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 27. From the opening, “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?” to the declaration, “One thing I ask from the LORD” and the commitment, “Your face, LORD, I will seek,” to the request, “Teach me your way, LORD,” to the concluding exhortation, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD,” this psalm speaks to us and for us, encouraging us in our life with God.
Knowing the Lord as light, salvation, and stronghold protects us from fear. There’s a lot of enemy and adversary talk in this psalm. We may not face the kind of enemies David did when he wrote this, but spiritual enemies still threaten. Illness may be a kind of adversary. In facing all of these, we trust God and we need not fear.
I remember hearing Bob Tuttle comment on this psalm and connecting it to 1 Samuel 30. He points out what David had lost: “No family, no home, no town, no country, no king, not even a battle to wage!” How could David now say, “The Lord is my light” and all the rest? Tuttle’s theory was that “God loved David and David knew it.” David then loved God in return and made God his heart’s desire. “One thing! One thing! One thing! One thing! David’s one passion, the ‘one thing,’ was to be with God.” (Robert G. Tuttle, Jr., Help Is on the Way! Overcoming Barriers to Spirit-Assisted Prayer, pp. 19-20, 23-24).
Can Jesus be our “one thing”? Can we truly “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”? Like David, can we seek to dwell with God every day? Dwelling in God and knowing that we are safe in him leads us to praise: “…at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD” (v. 6).
Our hearts are stirred to seek God’s face. Some versions translate verse 8 as God calling, “Seek my face.” We seek God’s face, not just God’s hand, not just God’s provision, but we seek to know the Lord. This reminds me of the blessing in Numbers 6:24-26:
The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you [smile on you] and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you [look on you with favor] and give you peace.
Four years ago, I was leaving local church ministry to take on being a district superintendent. There was a lot of upheaval in our denomination. Trying to navigate all that was going on, I was praying for wisdom (James 1:5) and I was encouraged by a musical setting of Psalm 27:13-14 to wait on the Lord (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHeoa9v6-vA). Wisdom and waiting became my watchwords. Let’s take heart and wait on the Lord who is our light and salvation, who is our one thing, who always cares for us.
