David’s Confidence
13”[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living! 14Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.” Psalm 27:13-14 Amplified Bible
Psalm 27 is a Psalm of David’s confidence in the Lord. David was certainly one man who had learned to trust in the promises of the Lord rather than giving into fear because of circumstances. His life is filled with examples of that faith. He chose to believe the promises and the power of His covenant, instead of believing appearances. This Psalm begins with David’s acknowledgment that the Lord is both his light and his salvation. In other words, he is saying that in every area of his life David knew that God would be that guiding light to lead him to a place of deliverance, and God had the power to assure that deliverance from every situation.
But as we go to the end of the Psalm we find that David concluded with the words that we see above. These are words that we can learn from and apply ourselves to our life’s struggles and trials. These are the certain words of confidence that David had and that we can adopt for ourselves. Remember that our covenant is vastly superior to the one that David had. If David had this kind of confidence in the Lord, we should have even more.
In verse 13 he acknowledges that he would have failed in his life time and again had he not believed, had he not known for a certainty, that he would see the goodness of God here is this life. Most of us give up on the promises of God when things do not appear to move towards victory and we convince ourselves, “Well, I will see the victory in the life to come. I will find my healing in heaven if not on earth. The promises of God are for the next life, I can’t expect them here in this life.” That is wrong!!
David realized that the promises of God for deliverance and victory were for today, for this life. Had he not believed that, he would have given up during the struggles and trials and missed the deliverance of the Lord. How often have missed the victory because we did not embrace that same faith and confidence in the Lord that David did? Believe that the promise and the goodness of the Lord are for you, today, in this life. What will become of you if you do not believe this? Well, you will continue to experience a life of mediocrity and disappointment. Believe and then heed David’s final words, “Wait, hope, expect, be brave” and then watch the Lord move. You don’t lack for anything in the realm of the Lord, except maybe confidence in Him.
J Todd Hostetler