"The Deliverance of God"

Psalm 27:7-12: Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!  have mercy also upon me, and answer me.  When you said, "Seek My face," my heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."  Do not hide Your face from me; do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.  Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.  Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence, I would have lost heart, unless I had believed..  That I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

      Central Focus of this Section of Psalm 27:    In the Battle God will walk with us and deliver us 

A.  It is David’s concern that the Lord would not forsake him as he walked on the path of life outside of the sanctuary of God—could he experience God’s presence away from the house of God (v. 7)

B.   Be sensitive to God’s voice and when He speaks, immediately respond to Him (v. 8) Alexander Soltzhenitzen spent years in prison as a Soviet dissident, and in his book Gulag Archipelago he describes that one time he decided it was his day to die.  So he knew from seeing this happen to other prisoners that if you sat down and refused to work the guard would beat you to death.  He sat down and immediately an old man dressed very poorly sat next to him, and told him to live and to go back to work, which he did.  That night, on rotting straw, he blessed the name of the Lord, and said, "Bless you prison."  You can have God’s presence with you in a Siberian prison or at your workplace or school or home. 

C.   The fact of God’s presence with us is assured by His promise (Hebrews 13:5); but the experience of His presence depends on how we relate to Him in faith, love, obedience, and desire (v. 9)

D.  While there is a possibility of a father or a mother deserting a child, God stands in contrast as He is always a devoted and faithful Father (Psalm 103:13; Isaiah 49:15). 

E.   As we walk the path of life as Christian soldiers, we need to be taught, lead, and delivered (vv. 11-12).  As long as we look to God by faith, He will guide us on the right path, and we will not give the enemy occasion to slander His name.