Psalm 27:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: 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!

NIV: 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.

NASB: Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, God of my salvation!

CSB: Do not hide your face from me; do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or abandon me, God of my salvation.

NLT: 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!

KJV: Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

NKJV: Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.

When God "hides His face" from us, it means He is displeased. The imagery is of a parent turning to look somewhere else when a child is disrespectful or rude. David did not want the Lord to be displeased with him. He knew he was a sinner who did not deserve the Lord's presence and blessings. Because of his sinful condition, he knew he deserved for the Lord to reject him in anger. Although the Lord had anointed David to be king over all Israel, David humbly referred to himself as the Lord's servant.

Psalm 51:17 assures us that the sacrifices the Lord accepts are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. Faced with overwhelming opposition, David's spirit was broken before the Lord and his heart was broken and contrite. He recalled that God had helped in the past and urged Him not to abandon him now. He addressed his prayer to the God of his salvation. He recognized that only God could deliver him in his time of crisis.

This verse shows both sides of David's faith when compared to Psalm 27:3. David "knows" that God is with him, and yet he still experiences human fears and anxieties. His response to those emotions is not panic, or despair, but a trusting appeal to the Lord.

Psalm 27:7–14 reveals that David, while he commits his faith to God, is not immune from fear. In the prior section of this psalm, David stated his reasons to be confident in the Lord. Here, however, David seems to be pleading for those exact protections. Like anyone else, David experienced anxiety. Rather than succumbing to fear, however, David chose to trust God, remind himself of God's protection, and come to the Lord in prayer. This is concluded with another expression of trust in God.

David lays out the reasons he should be confident in God's protection. David then transitions, almost abruptly, into heartfelt pleas for God to rescue him from his enemies. The impression is that David is experiencing natural human anxiety and responding by reminding himself of God's goodness. The psalm ends with the same assurance expressed when it began.

Most Bible scholars believe David wrote Psalm 27 when he was in exile, with King Saul in hot pursuit. If so, the psalm aligns with other writings David composed during this time. Psalms 21, 26, and 28 are good examples. Others think this might have been written when David was fleeing from his violently rebellious son, Absalom. For the most part, Psalm 27 expresses David's confidence in the Lord as his guide and deliverer, but he also demonstrates his human fears by pleading with God for the exact thing he has been so confident of.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.