Psalm 27:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!

NIV: Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me.

NASB: Hear, Lord, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me.

CSB: Lord, hear my voice when I call; be gracious to me and answer me.

NLT: Hear me as I pray, O Lord. Be merciful and answer me!

KJV: Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

NKJV: Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

After expressing reasons to be fully confident in God's protection, David desperately pleads with the Lord to answer his prayer. Perhaps at this time he saw the enemy bearing down on him. David's eyes may have been focused more on his enemy than on the Lord. He knew that he did not deserve an answer from the Lord. After all, he was a sinner like all other human beings. He simply appealed to the Lord to be gracious to him and answer him.

Rather than contradicting the first six verses of this psalm, David's prayer here is a natural reaction. He "knows" he has no reason to fear—but that knowledge will not make us immune to anxiety. Psalm 27, then, becomes a mixture of prayer and self-reassurance. David is expressing his need to God, stating both his trust and his weakness all at once. We see a father do something similar in Mark 9:24.

Similarly, we do not deserve an answer to our prayers, but the Lord is gracious, He provides what we do not deserve. The writer to the Hebrews implores us to draw near to the throne of grace so that "we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). In the midst of a sudden violent storm on the Sea of Galilee, Peter stepped out of a boat at the command of Jesus. He began to walk on the waves toward Christ. But soon Peter took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the stormy wind. That's when he began to sink. But like David who prayed desperately for the Lord to be gracious to him, Peter desperately cried out to the Lord, "Lord, save me" (Matthew 14:30). The Lord is gracious, and He answers desperate prayers!

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.