Finding Courage by Gazing upon Christ’s Beauty — Psalm 27

October 1, 2025/Zach Keele/
Photo Credit: serts / iStock.com

Photo Credit: serts / iStock.com

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What do you fear? Who are you afraid of? Fears aren’t the most pleasant topic to talk about. Sure, a few people will get on social media and list off all their phobias, but this isn’t the norm. Then there are those who brag about being fearless with their ‘no fear’ swag.

More often, however, we tend to keep our fears to ourselves or share them with only a chosen few. Now matter, though, how we express it, we all have some fears. In this massive and wild world, there are no shortage of dangers to dread. Fear isn’t a weakness, but rather wisdom.

And yet, fears need to be controlled and managed. If unrestrained, fear becomes crippling paranoia, a prison of your own anxiety. How does prudence overcome fear? How does one rein in anxiety to attain courage? Psalm 27 ministers to us some profound, spiritual answers.

Conviction and assurance pour forth from the poetry of Psalm 27.

In Psalm 27, the king of Israel leans towards the side of prayer more than song. While it was eventually set to music for the temple congregation, and the hope of the psalm aims to rejoice the courts of the Most High, it was first scribbled down in a prayer journal. Furthermore, this prayer has its own distinct flavor.

Praying is not a monotonous activity; it can be diverse, varied, and flexible. Prayer adapts to the vast assortment of emotions and experiences thrust upon us in this topsy-turvy world. Prayers can be gleeful, or tear soaked; they can flow easily or with much friction; they can be desperate or doxological. And this prayer in Psalm 27 is steeped in confidence.

Conviction and assurance pour forth from the poetry. As the psalmist opens by declaring, “Whom should I fear?” and “Of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 27:1). The clear answer is no one, nothing. The psalmist preens that he is fearless. Nothing frightens him; he suffers no nightmares, is anxiety-free, and possesses zero phobias.

To our ears, however, an announcement of being fearless sounds like a salesman hawking a miracle cure. The exaggeration is too obvious; we don’t buy it. Likewise, how could the psalmist have conquered all fear? While people claim this, it sounds more like youthful folly than honesty. Such fearless swagger irritates our skepticism.

Because he fears the Lord, the psalmist fears nothing else.

The psalmist guides us in understanding by elaborating on what he means. He experiences no terror because the Lord is his light and salvation; the stronghold of his life resides in God. The truth and presence of the Lord shines upon him, guiding, enlightening, and invigorating him.

The deliverance and protection of heaven encircles the psalmist like a wall. The might and care of Yahweh is for him, so he fears nothing else. The anatomy of this fear becomes clear, for in Scripture there are two basic species of fear.

The first is godly fear, which is the reverence, trust, and worship of Yahweh as our infinite and sovereign covenant Lord. This fear equals piety and godliness; such fear is the beginning of wisdom. With Yahweh as his saving God, the psalmist obvious fears the Lord in this way. The second class of fear, though, is anxiety and terror, being scared of pain, danger, loss, and loneliness. This is the fear we normal talk about, that which makes us shiver and spikes our blood pressure.

This fear robs us of sleep and inflames our insecurities into tyrannies, but the psalmist declares he has none of it. Because he fears the Lord, he fears nothing else. This is confidence; this is what we want, even if we doubt its feasibility. And it is as if the psalmist can sense our skepticism, for he goes on to list all the things that he doesn’t fear.

What is the secret of the psalmist’s confidence?

When someone brags of being fear-free, we start lobbing questions. What about this? How about that? And the psalmist is ready to field our doubts. “When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh,” he is as cool as a clam. This cannibalism of the wicked is not literal, nor is it specific; the evil men aren’t going to flay him up for supper.

Nor is one type of violence in view. Instead, this clarifies the animosity and intentions of the evildoers. What is the effect of having your body eaten? This is the worst possible fate of non-burial, where crows pick out your eyes and no one mourns you. Such flesh eating is abject shame in this life and the next. Likewise, who chomps on human flesh? Wild beasts do.

Carnivores and scavengers slaughter and feed upon the dead. Vultures and hyenas, lions and magpies will feast on humans. And such blood-thirsty cannibalism amounts to the dehumanization of wickedness. When depravity makes a man as merciless as beasts, when all human restraint is gone, this is a terrifying thing.

Such animal fierceness is the seven-foot, 350-pound, crime-hardened, face-tattooed gangster, who will break you like a toothpick as if squishing an ant. Only a fool wouldn’t be afraid of such a cannibalistic monster, but the psalmist isn’t afraid. Let the flesh-eating Goliath come; he isn’t worried. Needless to say, impressive courage resides in this psalmist.

And there is more. Next, when the army besieges him, when war swells up to engulf him, his heart feels no fear. The psalmist stands alone on the battlefield, and advancing toward him are the hordes of Mordor, the legions of Rome, the 300 of Sparta, and the barbarian battalions. Flying arrows darken the sun.

The spears cannot be counted, the shield wall is impenetrable, and the chariots roar like NASCAR. Hopelessness presses in upon the psalmist: victory seems impossible; a horrible defeat appears to be certain. At this point, the bravest person’s knees would be running with water, but not the psalmist. He feels no anxiety; even amid this, he is confident.

Finally, the psalmist mentions false witnesses who breath out violence. The courts of justice are supposed to be where the truth reigns and impartiality performs righteousness. Oaths safeguard honesty and unvarnished facts.

Yet, when liars hide behind the gears of justice, when deception perverts truth for evil ends, terror hunts. Lying witnesses advance wickedness behind the disguise of uprightness. And with the judicial system ruled by lies, there is no place to go. Despair tortures the innocent when liars control the courts. And few things are as terrifying as hopelessness.

The psalmist, though, feels not this despair; he shivers not with hopelessness. How can this be? Bestial evildoers, vast armies, and lying witnesses all seek to undo him. What is the source of his fearlessness? How can he be so confident? Is he being honest, or he is just in denial? He at last moves to divulge his secret.

The psalmist’s courage comes from being in the temple, gazing upon the Lord’s beauty.

Besieged by terrors, he has but one wish (Ps. 27:4). One thing, he asks the Lord for; this alone he seeks. Genies offer three wishes; Santa allows a whole letter of requests, but the psalmist isn’t interested. He has a single petition for Yahweh. One thing he pleads for: to dwell in the house of the Lord all his days, to inquire in the temple his whole life long:

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire in his temple. (Ps. 27:4)

This is all the psalmist desires. The secret to his courage is being in the temple, so this is the one and only thing he prays for. To be in God’s house is all he seeks. Moreover, note what he wants to do in the temple. He will dwell in the sanctuary to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. He will just stare at the lovely, gorgeousness of God. And how this reveals the power of beauty.

The beautiful captivates; it grabs your focused attention and doesn’t let go. Beauty sweeps you up in elation, making you oblivious to all else. And Yahweh’s beauty is like none other. His elegance encompassed all that he is in every last one of his infinite perfections: justice and grace, power and compassion, holiness and love.

The loveliness of God also embraces his amazing deeds: the wonders of creation, the miracles of redemption, the undying fidelity to his promises. And the list of God’s glories can go on without end. So, being with and gazing upon our lovely Lord is the psalmist’s singular desire and the secret to his confidence. All the help and delight he needs is the Lord himself.

Getting his one wish is not a forgone conclusion, so the psalmist begs for God’s grace to grant it.

The psalmist, however, is a tad uncertain that Yahweh will grant this one wish, so he cries out to be heard: “Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!” (Ps. 27:7). There is even a fascinating play on seeking the face. As the psalmist says, he seeks the Lord’s face (Ps. 27:8), which is to desire an audience with God for nearness and favor, to be up close and personal.

Such is being in the temple. And yet, where this is normally only used for humans seeking the Lord, the psalmist reverses it as he pleads for the Lord to seek his face. He doesn’t just want to see God, but he asks for the Lord to see him, to look him in the face with love:

    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! (Ps. 27:9)

Getting his one wish is not a forgone conclusion, so the psalmist begs for grace to grant it. He may not fear his foes, but he does feel some anxiety in this. If the Lord doesn’t bring the psalmist before his face, then all will be lost. He may not need the companionship of humans, but without the presence of the Lord he has nothing.

Yahweh will bear hug the psalmist with warm compassion and holy affection.

Even with his doubts sprinkled in here, they aren’t enough to significant shake the psalmist’s confidence. Thus, he can assert in verse 10, “My mom and dad have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.” What a line! Parental love is one of the strongest loves there is. To be rejected and abandoned by your folks is a nightmare from the bowels of Sheol.

To hear your mom say, “I don’t know you,” to have your dad push you out the door and lock it behind you, is there a worse dread? If your parents won’t love you, then who will? Yet, the psalmist is not concerned about even this most intense anxiety, for he is confident that the Lord will take him in. God will be the father he needs, the mother he desires.

And this taking in has a twofold sense. First, the contrast with parents who abandoned you evokes the notion of embracing, when loving arms bring you in for the best hug ever. Yahweh will bear hug the psalmist with warm compassion and holy affection.

By being in the temple, the psalmist gains the victory over the armies that besiege him.

Second, this taking in is also the word for gathering for worship. It is to open those temple gates and usher one into the glorious presence of the Lord. The psalmist’s one wish is to be in God’s house, and now he confesses that the Lord will grant it. He will bring the psalmist into his beautiful house as in a lovely embrace. And by getting access, the psalmist is granted the benefits of God’s holy house: God will hide him in his shelter; he conceals him in the cover of his tent; and the Lord lifts him up on a Rock far above his enemies (Ps. 27:5). By being in the temple, the psalmist gains the victory over the armies that besiege him. Near the Lord he is safe in the day of calamity. No, cannibal, battalion, or liar can harm him in the refuge of the temple.

The psalmist isn’t afraid of his terrifying foes, for they can’t hurt him in the Lord’s tent. Furthermore, within the sacred shelter of the Almighty, the psalmist can enjoy victory worship (Ps. 27:6). In the temple, he will offer sacrifices of joyful shouts, which are the offerings of triumph. These are given with happy gratitude to celebrate the conquest of God. He will sing; he will not be silent. He has received his one wish.

Outside the Lord’s sanctuary, one waits, but inside the waiting turns into resting and worship.

The psalmist fears not the hostile dangers, because the Lord will gather him in. He worries not about the pain that foes can inflict, for the pleasure of looking upon the beauty of the Lord washes way all discomfort. Yet, as the psalmist expresses his noble confidence in the Lord, we wonder about timing. Has he entered the holy tent already, or is this yet to be?

Is his victory worship present or future? And he gives us the answer in his conclusion: “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13). Seeing God’s goodness links back to verse four; it is a repetition of gazing on God’s beauty. And here, such marveling in Divine loveliness is decidedly future in aspect.

The psalmist doesn’t enjoy such gazing at present, but he will during his lifetime. While he still draws breath, he will enter the sanctuary of salvation to delight the goodness of Yahweh. The ‘when’ is undetermined, it may be sooner or later, but there is no doubt about its certainty. Hence, the psalmist punctuates his prayer with an exhortation to wait:

Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord! (Ps. 27:14)

This call to wait seems to be aimed both at himself and at us. The psalmist encourages himself to wait, and he invites us to join him. Waiting on God is the perseverance of hope. This is patience to rest in God’s timing. The outcome is known, the Lord will do it, but the date of fulfillment is not given.

As he waits, the psalmist encourages strength and bravery. Don’t waver in waiting. Let not cowardice take control as you stand in the line for the Lord. Waiting indicates that the victory is yet to be, and the foes are presently threatening. Waiting spells out that the psalmist has not gotten his one wish to be inside the temple.

Outside the sanctuary, one waits, but inside the waiting turns into resting and worship. Even as he waits outside amid fierce foes, the psalmist possesses a strong courage; he fears not. It is easy to see how fear would disappear inside God’s house, but how can one experience fearlessness while still being surrounded by evildoers? The Lord is his comfort and joy, but how can he enjoy this while being at a distance?

The psalmist’s faith works bravery and courage in his heart.

He states the answer frankly: “I believe!” (Ps. 27:13). From where does the psalmist’s fearlessness and confidence come? They come from faith. What is the recipe to overcome fear? Faith. What works bravery and courage in our hearts? Faith.

What is the wisdom that controls and manages our fears? It is faith. By faith the psalmist is surrounded by massive armies and cannibalistic giants, and he is not afraid. By faith the lies of false witnesses worry him not. The brave confidence swells up within the psalmist by faith. By faith, he overcomes and conquers all his dreads, anxieties, and nightmares.

What the psalmist expresses here is what John writes about in his first epistle (1 John 5:4). This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. This world is a scary place, especially as the Evil One prowls to harm us, as wickedness salivates to snuff us out. To not worry about so many dangers would mean you are either a fool or belong to the world.

Our faith in Christ conquers the world and its evil master; faith makes the butterflies of nervousness fly in sync. Faith controls and defeats our fears. But why faith? Faith seems rather weak compared to the might of wickedness. Faith is victorious not because of some inherent strength within it but because faith grabs hold of another.

Faith wins as it gazes to One who is mighty, the Lord. Therefore, the psalmist’s faith lays waste to his fears, since Yahweh is his light, salvation, and help. Likewise in 1 John, the one who overcomes the world is the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5:4). Our faith wins because it rests in the victory of Christ Jesus.

Faith is fueled on the pilgrim path by coming to worship to gaze on the beauty of our God and Savior.

For, it is not us who win but Christ who has won for us. Jesus defeated all the temptations of the evil one. He resisted all the lies and hostility of the world. Christ even braved the wrath of God due to us for sin. In the scariest moment of all human history, under the terror of wrath upon the cross, Christ was brave for you. He climbed on that tree courageously for you.

Jesus faced the fear of wrath, so you don’t have to. He braved the full force of the world’s hatred to protect you from it. The one source of our courage is Jesus Christ—his love, his power, his Lordship—and all these strengths of Christ are ours through faith. Believing in Jesus is the author of true courage. Faith teaches us not to be distracted by the dangers of life but instead to look at Jesus.

If you are scared of heights, they say don’t look down. Likewise, faith doesn’t look down at evil threats but instead gazes upward at the face of Christ. When faith beholds the lovely face of Jesus, all fears retreat from his light.

As our faith waits upon the second coming of Christ, how it is cheered along the way? It is by the one wish of the psalmist: to dwell in God’s house. Faith is fueled on the pilgrim path by coming to worship to gaze on the beauty of our God and Savior. As the psalmist states, in the land of the living he will enjoy God’s goodness. Ultimately, this is fulfilled in glory, but we participate in it truly here and now by Lord’s Day worship.

Let us seek the face of God diligently week in and week out in worship.

Waiting is one of the hardest things for us. Being patient is a struggle for our faith. We believe, but we want it now. And so the Lord has granted us to come before his face every week as we worship in Christ. By the Word proclaimed, through the sacraments administered, and with the hymns we sing, the Lord reveals his outstanding beauty to you.

The beauty of his holiness, the loveliness of the gospel of grace, these you enjoy in a special and delightful way in worship. And as you are enraptured by Christ’s beauty, your faith is made strong. The goodness of Jesus assuages your anxieties, comforts your doubts, and diminishes your fears. In the arms of Christ, we are granted a spiritual courage and an enduring joy.

Therefore, may our faith be in Christ and his cross alone. Let us seek the face of God diligently week in and week out in worship. And being nourished by the beauty of Christ, let us wait upon the Lord. With joy and bravery, may we wait upon Jesus until all the riches of grace that we now possess by faith will be ours in sight. Praise the Lord!

This article is adapted from the Rev. Zach Keele’s sermon on Psalm 27, preached at Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church on February 16, 2025.

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