Psalm 27

What do you think of when you think of courage? Maybe I'm a bit old-school, but I always think of a lion - as in the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz who needs a heart. Or Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia. I'd be willing to wager that Hudson thinks of soldiers and knights in armor marching off to fight the bad guys.

I found a picture of courage that I didn't expect in Psalm 27. Verse 14 states, 'Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!' Huh? Be strong, take courage, and....wait? How does that work?

Let's back up and look at what the author, David, is talking about. In the first six verses of the psalm, David praises God for His power to deliver him from his enemies. He boldly asserts the confidence he has in God to be his salvation (v.1), stronghold (v.2), shelter (v.5), and concealment (v.5). David is so confident in God that he speaks of having a worship service right there in the middle of the enemies surrounding him (see also Ps. 23:5,6)!

Then something interesting happens. For the next six verses David prays that God would deliver him from his enemies - who are, incidentally, all around him. It is here that we get to see why God referred to David as being 'after My own heart'. You see, David declared his confidence in God before he even saw God do anything in his situation. He stated what he believed to be true of God, and rested in the fact that God is faithful and true to His own character. God cannot lie nor does He change. Therefore, if He says He's a deliverer, then He has been, is, and will always be a deliverer. David is simply pointing this out to anyone who will listen so that they can rightly ascribe credit when David prays and sees God's deliverance. This is faith!

Next, David closes his prayer and makes another assertion - 'I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (v.13, emphasis added)!' In other words, 'God, I don't think now is my time to die. I think you have more for me here, and I will celebrate You when You deliver me from my enemies here on the earth.'

Finally, we arrive at the strange exhortation in v.14. Given the circumstances that David is facing - surrounded by enemies who are 'breathing out violence' - he does not call on his soldiers to take up arms. He does not devise a clever strategy to politically outflank his opponents. He just....waits.

To me, this does not seem like courage. Faith, sure. But courage? Strength? I'm all about 'doing stuff' for the glory of God. I like getting my hands dirty and seeing a finished product. I don't want to be feel like I am on the sidelines. All of that sounds good, but God wants His people to awaken to the fact that it's really all Him all the time. More often than I recognize, God just wants me to wait, get my hands out of the way, and let Him work.

One afternoon, Audrey brought me a necklace from her jewelry case. Did I say necklace? I meant heaped-up ball of metal. As it turns out, there were two necklaces. Knotted. Bad. She asked me to fix them for her, and then proceeded to stick her little fingers into the mess to 'help' every five seconds as I attempted to straighten out the knot. After a few minutes of this, I said, 'Audrey, Daddy will take care of this for you. Go play, and I'll bring them to you when I'm done.' It took me nearly an hour, but I was able to clear the knot. It could not have happened if she didn't get her hands off and wait.

It's my tendency to stick my hands into the mess. I believe I can 'help' God, if He'd only just let me get in there too. David is teaching us all, and me especially, that it will take great strength and courage to trust God and say, 'I know you're taking care of this. I'm backing off,' and be at peace.