How to discern God’s voice through the JOY of the Lord
Psalm 27 – ESV
Psalm 27 – NLT (or pick your translation from the dropdown menu)
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NIV below:
Psalm 27
Of David.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour[a] me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.
4 One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do 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.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
7 Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.
10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me.
11 Teach me your way, Lord;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.
13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.
NLT below:
Psalm 27 – A psalm of David
“The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music. Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me! My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.” Do not turn your back on me. Do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper. Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me, O God of my salvation! Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close. Teach me how to live, O Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me. Do not let me fall into their hands. For they accuse me of things I’ve never done; with every breath they threaten me with violence. Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”
Psalms 27:1-14 NLT
I was asked a question: What’s your take on Psalm 27? Here’s my answer.
Psalm 27 is The Lord Almighty through David teaching us how to have a HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVE.
Most of us know or have heard 2 Corinthians 5:7 before “we walk by faith, not by sight.”
But how do we walk by faith?
In Psalms 27 David teaches us how to have HEAVENLY perspective and see through faith, not sight.
When we shift and have a heavenly perspective, we become seemingly untouchable by earthly woes. That is what David means when he speaks of all these tough things coming at him but he is tucked safely away in the most holy spaces with the Lord God Almighty. The safest place any of us can reside is as close to the Lord as possible.
This passage is almost like cheat codes on a video game. Except the creator of the game handed you the cheat codes when they handed you the game. We should use this passage as guidance and as a way to maintain Heavenly Perspective through everything this world will have for us. So that we may glorify Him through all the difficulties of life and be worthy of hopefully seeing His face one day. Because the presence of God himself is in Heaven, yes, but entrance into the most heavenly place, closest to His face, is another level. We have the cheat codes of how to get there, and we have been given the opportunity because we have a part of God himself living inside of us in His Holy Spirit. Jesus died exactly for this reason. Look how close God wants to cradle us. He literally asks our inner most being if we will come have a chat! This is fantastic news for us! Thank you Jesus.
But still only those of us who can “hear with our hearts” will recognize there are things unseen in this world. We walk not by sight but by faith. Only in the walking by faith can we get to a place where God speaks something to our heart and we hear with our heart. Then we respond as we step not by sight but by faith toward Him through yielding ourselves to the prompting of God calling to us in our hearts, of Him asking us to come have a chat. (Psalm 27:7-8)
Hearing God’s voice is like any skill, we get better with practice. The more we step by faith into the spiritual places where God is wanting to meet us, the quicker we recognize when the Lord is speaking in unseen ways. Recognizing God’s prompting within our hearts is like an exponential curve, at first we are unconditioned to have faith without sight if we have been blessed with the ability to see, because we are so dependent upon sight in this world. Imagine, what would an entire world built for the blind look like? If there were not a single sighted person but instead everything was built upon and by and to cater to the needs of the vision-impaired. Would we have skyscrapers? Would we have sports cars? Would the world be experienced as VIBRANTLY as we experience it now–but instead of VISUAL vibrancy–AUDIBLE vibrancy? Or TANGIBLE vibrancy? This is how it is when God invites you as a believer with an established relationship with Him, as a child of the Heavenly Father having been born again in Christ, this is how we are to walk through the world. Not by SIGHT. But by FAITH. So that we may recognize when He is inviting us into a conversation with Him. To walk by FAITH and not by SIGHT, we must rely LESS on our human fallible senses. And more on an unchanging GOD and His alive and active Holy Spirit within us.
See our Heavenly Father desires to truly have companionship with His children. He wants to BE a father. And like any good father he lets us live our lives and CHOOSE the best path. This is how we discover choosing Him again and again and living as close to Him as possible is the ultimate satisfying lifestyle. Just like I don’t want to force someone who doesn’t enjoy me to stay chained to me, God gives me a choice. How awful to be forced to love, for love is not love without choice. No, our God wants us to CHOOSE, willingly every time, repeated actions that show to Him we are respectful, we are appreciative, we are humbled, we are pure-hearted, we are seeking Him first. And when we live with this Heavenly Perspective, we RISE above the enemies of the spiritual world, and are elevated in Spirit to a place worthy of being hidden and protected by God himself.
Why would God bring us so close to be tucked away and protected from our spiritual enemies, and not have a way to communicate with us? This Holy Bible speaks to us now as God’s lifebook, but also is telling us right here, that God calls to our hearts and we have the opportunity to respond, and to hang out with Him. This is why Paul said in Philippians 1:21 “to die is gain.” Because those who know the Lord intimately here, know the other side of the veil is infinitely better. But Paul also said in that same verse “To live is Christ.” Because this life we live is full of pain, difficulty, discontent, sadness, struggles. And to continue living here while KNOWING the beauty and perfection of what is next for us across the veil, IS to be like Christ. Because Christ had the full knowledge of “OVER THERE” Heaven. And Christ stayed here. Not for himself. But for others. For us. For them. For every single human being to have an opportunity to ALSO experience the goodness of God and to KNOW that death is gain for those who live in Christ.
So whether your struggle is family problems, relationships that have become strained or difficult, shame, guilt, repeating cycles, unrelenting anger, unforgiveness, or if your current struggle is seeing enemies everywhere you turn, this passage speaks to why we should actually walk in JOY and not in anger. Because we have a heavenly perspective, we know we are secured, there is no saving of the world for us to do. That was Jesus. God already completed that task. We should not walk around as if it is our responsibility to confront every enemy and as a result live in anger. In fact, scripture tells us that we just need to resist and the devil will FLEE from us. Not shoulder the burden ourselves. Not carry our own yokes. Not slice people’s ears off with swords. Show the devil you know the victory has already been won by resisting the urge to anger, and he will flee from you.
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
Here in Psalms 27, God shows us how to have JOY amidst all the other challenges that regularly (without God) we may approach with anger, distrust, confusion, rage.
David shows us that with a HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVE we can and should be JOYFULLY motivated. As opposed to ANGRILY motivated. Because even when all things *seem* against us, we know we are proven by our actions to be wise in perceiving God’s voice and following his Way. How? By turning the other cheek, giving away our cloak, feeding the hungry, caring for the poor and widowed and orphaned. By becoming slow to anger. By loving justice and mercy. By borrowing from God’s Grace and extending His grace to others whether or not we deem they deserve it, as has been done unto us. We are wise in perceiving God’s voice by listening to whoever we consider our most irritating enemy, and finding the value in them as Jesus did. By turning the other cheek. By paying attention to “the least of these.”
We can rest assured because we are His children safely tucked away into his most safe places — closest to Him.
If we are so safely tucked away, why are we not acting like we are held? I know I sure need to stop playing sloppy toddler and thrashing about. It’s a waste of Holy energy to combat everything that has breath. Especially when we should be using that breath to praise the One who died to give us that undeserved eternal safety. All of this can be easily summed up as Jesus says in Matthew with the two greatest commands.
“Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”” Matthew 22:37-40 NLT
As we live our lives here we are living on an exponential curve with God. The more we live in JOY and close reverence for God the easier it will be to perceive His invitations to speak with him. The more we will gain awareness that we are not here to fight each other, because Jesus already defeated death. Satan was and will forever be defeated. There is no need for us to rage against one another here. Because we are not fighting a battle for the seen world. Our salvation is eternal and the defeat of death has already been completed, thanks to Jesus. We are called to walk in Jesus’ victory and make disciples.
God is Love.
I don’t know about you, but I sure wouldn’t be interested in following a leader whose followers are a bunch of people who claim to know the ultimate peace, yet spend their time angry and encouraging everything but peace. How would Jesus approach today, if He were here today? Keeping in mind His words and actions directed us to love one another. Not value weapons over people and allow the clicky clicky to steal our joy and control our rage.
Despite always speaking to people who were genuinely wrong about who and what He was, Jesus had incredible patience with people.
And whenever he did speak to challenge people, who did he speak to? It was typically those who saw themselves as most religious, most faithful that Jesus challenged. Jesus came and showed us all that Heavenly perspective means to DIE to self. Self-righteousness. Self-pride. Anger at those different than us. Expectations and assumptions. Considering any human being an entirely lost cause, that’s the equivalent of saying Jesus didn’t die for that particular person. Which is false. He died for all. None of these are our place.
I’d be wary of anyone claiming they have the one true way, and then their behavior looks aggressively different than Jesus. And that includes the ratio of time Jesus spent flipping tables (or “deeply moved”) versus calmly explaining and sharing the good news.
When Jesus comes again, you will KNOW He is Jesus. He is the only person that can claim one true way. Even the devil quoted scripture because the Word is Truth is Jesus.
So in Psalms 27 David is telling us in his praise to God how to live so closely to God that you are protected by default. Live so closely aligned with Jesus himself — all of Him, including the drop your stones side of him– Live so closely aligned with Jesus the Almighty God in human form, that we are protected under God’s wings in Spirit by default. Desire to live our lives in such a Jesus loving our neighbor way that we are so close to Him, our protection is automatic, because nothing can come against the Almighty Lord God.
How though? How do we live so seemingly peacefully?
The secret to Heavenly perspective is JOY.
JOY does not erase or invalidate our pain. Joy protects us from permanent damage. Joy keeps us safe.
JOY does not erase or invalidate our pain. Joy protects us. Joy removes us from living in a place of permanent deficit. Joy is Living Water. A well that never runs dry. Joy keeps us safe.
Hay Farris
How do we fan the flame of JOY?
PRAISE.
How do we get the fire of JOY?
To get deep rooted joy, we must begin with a humbling self analysis that leads to sanctification and conversation with the Lord almighty. That is how we start to recalibrate into a childlike Faith.
A Faith where we are not afraid. We are safe.
Be not afraid. Instead, live in JOY.
As you wait patiently and intentionally create habits for your internal Spirit to recalibrate into proper alignment, where you too can recognize God’s promptings on your heart–as you listen to Him in this way–it’s only up from there. But it is not autopilot because there can be competing voices, especially in the beginning when we are not yet practiced at being led by His Spirit.
So how do we test if a voice is of God? Jesus’s life and actions and words. Jesus is The Word. Test the heart of what you hear:
1. Does it glorify God?
2. Does it declare Jesus as God’s son, our Lord and King?
3. Does it align with God’s Word (aka—Jesus himself)?
4. Ask God for discernment and wisdom to make His voice known to you.
This is a process that must be done everyday, with every thought. With practice, you’ll create a habit and discernment will become second nature. His voice will become distinctive and easily recognizable.
In science we check our alignment and calibrate our scales every single time we use them. So should it be with self-analysis. It’s a new day every morning. Calibrate your scales and you will find the exponential curve of living with God.
Do these things and you will have deeply rooted your joy tree.
Water your joy tree well with PRAISE. Keep your joy tree shining brightly in the light of the Son, not artificial light sources like screens.
Then you will find it is easy to live closely to His Spirit with a sense of HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVE via JOY that is deep rooted. When the storms rage, your JOY roots will be deeply rooted into HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVE. Thank you Jesus.
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*it’s important to note that anger and joy are not mutually exclusive. Let’s hold space and allow ourselves to experience emotions, but we need to ensure we aren’t harming anyone or ignoring injustice in the process of expressing our emotions.
- John 17:13
- John 15:11
- Nehemiah 8:10
- Psalm 27:1
- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
- Psalm 28:8
- Psalm 94:19
- Isaiah 41:10
- John 14:27
- 2 Timothy 1:7
- 1 John 4:18
- Isaiah 43:1
- James 1:19
- John 10:10
- Wandering and Wondering through the Wilderness
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