Psalm 27 (3rd)

Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of You,
Seek His face! Your face, Lord, I will seek. (7-8)
David continues this intimate interchange with God, his light and salvation (1), by asking
that the Lord hear him, grant him mercy, and answer his prayer
David then proclaims to God what his heart is saying Seek His face!
When the Bible refers to the heart we can interpret that as the center of our mind,
emotions and will it is our very inner person, our deepest desires, our conscience
When it comes to listening to our hearts we would be wise to consider our own
vulnerability to deception we all are sinful and susceptible to the influence of the world,
the flesh, and the devil (St. Thomas Aquinas, based on Mat 4:1-9, Mark 4:13-19, Eph 2:13, I John 2:16)
Can your heart be trusted? No, trusting your heart is simply trusting yourself The heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
But our hearts can be impacted by God, who says in the following verse: I, the Lord,
search the heart and examine the mind (Jeremiah 17:10)
David prays: O Lord, You have searched me and You know me (Psalm 139:1) . . . Search
me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts (Psalm 139:23)
Paul teaches that our conscience is a tool to be trained by God and used by him (Romans
14), and says of our inner convictions everything that does not come from faith is sin
(14:23)
Only when you trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own
understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him (Proverbs 3:5-6) then can the
heart be trusted
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, O God my Savior. Though my father and mother
forsake me, the Lord will receive me. (9-10)
David records a similar prayer when He says: Do not cast me away from your presence or
take Your Holy Spirit from me; restore unto me the joy of Your salvation (Psalm 51:11-12)
This is not a statement indicating the limitations of Gods love, but rather Davids concern
of breaking fellowship with His shepherd as a result of selfishness, rebellion, and
disobedience
In all likelihood at this point, David was not actually forsaken by his father or mother but
this affirmation makes clear the contrast between human relationships with our limited
ability to love each other, and the steadfast, reliable, and unconditional love of our heavenly
father
Some literally experience being forsaken by their parents through neglect or abandonment,
yet though of us blessed with loving parents will eventually be forsaken through their
death
For I am convinced that neither death nor live, neither angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future . . . can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord
(Rom 8:38)

Teach me Your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not
turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out
violence. I am still 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. (11-14)
We are promised that our paths will be straight when we fully trust God (Proverbs 3:6), and
David himself is proof that our Heavenly father will faithfully deliver us from our enemies
David was confident the goodness of the Lord would triumph in his life in spite of any
circumstance, as evidenced in his prayer: You are good and what You do is good (119:68)
We live in the land of the living as we walk in faith with God in this life, and experience
the transition from this land of the dying into life eternal (John 3:16) until then, as did
David, we are to be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord to act in us and through us
(Is 40:31