Big Idea: Our lives, guided by a single purpose, find their security in our relationship to God.

Understanding the Text

This psalm has two distinct parts, which leads some interpreters to suggest that it was originally two separate poems.[1] Part 1 (27:1–6) has the qualities of an individual psalm of trust (see the sidebar “Psalms of Trust” in the unit on Ps. 16),[2] while part 2 (27:7–13) takes the form of a complaint[3] or lament. The difference in genre cannot, of course, be the definitive word, since the psalms sometimes mix them.[4] If they are two distinct poems, the evidence seems to point in the direction that part 2 was composed with part 1 in view, rather than the psalm being the combination of two independent poems.[5] It seems, however, that the poet was describing his deep t…