Psalm 27:9-10: In Case of Emergency: Pray
Psalm 27:9-10: Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in. [1]
In these verses, David gives those of us facing difficulty two principles for praying during trials. First, David teaches us to pray urgently: he knows that if God is not with him there is no hope. [2] Second, in his urgent prayer, David leans on God’s promises, trusting that the Trinity will keep His Word. [3]
No one lived these principles better than Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus prayed earnestly before going to the cross, to the point He sweat as if He were bleeding. [4] But before entering the garden He also prayed resting on what He knew to be true. [5] Though Christ was abandoned far worse than David, His trails in life and on the cross made real hope possible for those of us facing trials. [6]
Prayer may not remove our trials, but when we pray to Christ we communicate with someone Who has suffered as we have, and Whose death gives us hope. [7] A hope that our present sufferings are not worth thinking about with Christ’s coming restoration. [8] A hope that the Holy Spirit meets us in our struggles and helps us in them. [9] A hope that there is a good God orchestrating His children’s suffering for their benefit because nothing is greater than Christ’s finished work. [10] This hope is for all who embrace Christ. If you desire this hope, confess the false hopes you have held to and cling to Christ as your exclusive hope for forgiveness before a just God. If you believe but wrestle, you are not alone. I encourage you to memorize Romans 8 and to urgently pray and believe it in your trials.
This blog was written by Seth Dunn
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Logos Bible Software. All Scripture references will be ESV unless noted otherwise.
[2] William S. Plumer. Psalms: A Critical and Expository Commentary with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks. (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2016), 361.
[3] Plumer, Psalms, 361, Joshua 1:5; Psalm 27:10;
[4] Luke 22:44.
[5] John 17.
[6] Plumer, Psalms, 361.
[7] Hebrews 4:14-16.
[8] Romans 8:17-25.
[9] Romans 8:26-27.
[10] Romans 8:28-39.