The Lord’s my shining light – a sermon on Psalm 27 by Rev. Colin Pretorius.

For the past two years most of us have been on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster because of things like lockdowns and other restrictions. And during the past week concerns about the possible consequences of the Russian attack on Ukraine may have brought some dark clouds over us too. But it’s not just big events like pandemics or wars that can impact us negatively. Because we are broken people living in a broken world, we suffer from things like loneliness, anxiety, depression, heartache and uncertainty. Sometimes we feel down and sometimes we feel let down. Sometimes we feel as if the earth has dropped out from beneath our feet. Sometimes things happen that just get to us so much that we feel we just cannot go on. This isn’t a new problem, it’s as old as humanity itself.  But when we read a psalm like this, we can also see that we have a wonderful privilege – we know that we have a faithful God, who is present even in the midst of our pain.

This psalm is firstly a psalm of confidence and trust in the Lord. It’s also about seeking the Lord’s presence. And it’s also about being patient in waiting for God’s will to unfold. Confidence in the Lord, seeking the Lord’s presence and waiting on the Lord – these are the three things the psalmist speaks about in Psalm 27:

• Trust the Lord (v1-3)
• Seek the Lord (v4-12)
• Wait on the Lord (v13-14)

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