Psalm 27

Psalm 27 has been dear to my heart this summer. I love thinking about verse 4 “One thing I ask of LORD, this only I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.’ And it’s companion verse 7 “My heart says of you, “Seek His face!” Your face LORD I will seek.” But verses 13 and 14 have been core to my life with cancer these past 20 months.

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.

Malcolm Guite says Psalm 27 his favorite Psalm. Here is his response to it, found in his book David’s Crown: A Poetic Response to the Psalms. Read this interview with Lancia Smith at Cultivating to learn more about Malcolm and David’s Crown.

Oh let me see with his eyes from now on

Whose gaze on beauty makes it beautiful,

Who looks us into love and looks upon 

His whole creation with a merciful

And loving eye. My heart has said of him

Seek out his face, I’ve sensed his bountiful

 Presence shimmering behind the dim

Veil of things. That presence calls to me

Calls me to tremble at the brink and rim

 Of lived experience, and then to free

Myself of fear. to trust him, and to dive

Right off that brink, into his mystery

 into that deep and holy sea of love

In which the living worlds all float and swim

To dare each moment’s death, that I might live.