For in the day of evil he will hide me in his pavilion; in the secret of his tent will he keep me concealed he will set me high upon a rock.
Verse 4 asked God for one thing: to live in His house. Verse 5 is the answer. The place David longed for becomes the place God hides him when trouble comes. So what does God promise here — escape from the trouble, or shelter inside it? The writers below quote an older translation, where the ESV's "shelter" is "pavilion" and "the cover of his tent" is "the secret of his tabernacle."
The first half of this psalm is not a cry for help but a settled certainty, and verse 5 belongs to that section.
In Psalm 27 we have two distinct parts... The first part, verses 1-6, is the confidence of the believer. That confidence is complete, whatever enemies there were... Enemies outside or oppressors inside... an army and a war rising up stir no fear. Jehovah is the light and salvation of the soul. Its only desire is to live in the house of Jehovah, to see His beauty and to ask of Him in His temple... In the time of trouble He would hide him. The attack of enemies would only be the occasion for lifting his head above them, and then he would offer sacrifices of joy.
The shelter is not a new address found in an emergency. It is the house he had already asked to live in.
How often we need trouble to bring our hearts back to the Lord. But it was not trouble that led the Psalmist to seek the Lord. He sought Him for His own sake. Then, when trouble did come, it found him already hidden in the innermost part of His pavilion, at home with Him in all that closeness.
Notice too who does the acting in this verse.
You want to live in the house of God; trouble comes, and He hides you where you have been living! There is not a word about me, or what I do; but He hides me. Where? Where my heart dwelt before!
Read it closely. The promise does not say God will take the trouble away.
Notice that there is no deliverance yet in this verse. It is not "in the time of trouble God will come in and take me out of it," but "he will hide me." It is not "he will quiet the winds and waves" — not a word about that... He carries us in His power. He hides us. He does not remove the difficulty. He gives me the upper hand over it, and His own power carries me through it... Should we pity the person in trouble, if Jehovah hides him in His pavilion?
So when trouble comes, the believer is not the one who has to act.
When trouble or difficulty comes, I am not running around looking for a way out. There I am, resting and quiet, and God is active. He hides me, He holds me up, He acts for me in the time of trouble.
The verse piles up images: a pavilion, the hidden inner part of the tent. One writer also notes the shift from "all the days of my life" in verse 4 to the day of trouble in verse 5.
David had said before, "all the days of my life:" now he says "in the time of trouble." Do we not learn from this that all the days of our lives are a time of trouble and testing? Because of this we continually need the secret of the presence of the Lord. David uses different words for it: "His temple," "His pavilion," "the secret of His tabernacle"... Linked with this is our being "set on high upon a rock." In God's presence we shall always find our feet planted on solid ground. In fact, Christ is the Rock, and though we may at times tremble on the Rock, yet the Rock never trembles.
The last clause adds something the hiding alone does not: height and permanence.
Dwelling in the house of Jehovah, and engrossed... with His beauty, he is really in a region outside of all trouble; and if it were possible for trouble to get into that divine circle of light and blessing, there is the action of Jehovah in concealing the one who has been drawn into His presence; He will hide him even in the secret, in the innermost recesses, of His tabernacle... "He shall set me up upon a rock" — upon an unchangeable foundation, one therefore which will ensure security and stability for ever.
The psalm speaks of a real sanctuary and real human enemies. One writer sees a wider picture in it.
The immediate application here is to human enemies, though the literal sanctuary gives... only a picture of spiritual truths of much wider range... God has indeed lifted us high on the rock-foundation of Christ's blessed work. In Him we have entered the heavenly sanctuary, safely hidden from the enemy... So the sanctuary is our safe retreat at all times. It is the place where the world takes its true shape for us, and its hold on us is loosened... Here, then, the head is lifted over all enemies, and the sacrifice of praise becomes the necessary outlet of a full and grateful heart.
- Desire first. The shelter of verse 5 is the house of verse 4. Trouble finds the believer already at home with God.
- Hidden, not removed. God does not promise to calm the waves here. He promises to hide you, so you go through the trouble instead of around it.
- Rest, because He acts. Every verb belongs to God: He hides, He holds me up, He acts for me. So the believer can rest.
- Rock under the shelter. Hiding gives safety. The rock lifts the head above enemies, and Christ the Rock never trembles.
- Praise as the outcome. From that place God lifts the head, and sacrifices of joy follow. Shelter ends in worship.
And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; and I will offer in his tent sacrifices of shouts of joy I will sing, yea, I will sing psalms unto Jehovah.
Psalm 27 has been about trust while enemies press in. Here the mood turns to song. When is the head lifted? Why is the singing done inside God's tent? And how can joy be a sacrifice?
The enemies are still there when the head goes up. One writer says their attack is the very thing that raises it.
The first part, verses 1 to 6, is the confidence of the believer — full confidence, whatever enemies there were. Enemies outside or oppressors inside — for the remnant of the Jews will find both against them — a host and war rising up, stir up no fear. In the time of trouble He would hide him. The attack of enemies would only be the occasion for lifting up his head above them. Then he would offer sacrifices of joy.
Everything up to this point was shelter, not rescue.
He does not remove the difficulty; He gives me superiority to it, and His own power carries me through it. He hides me in His shelter. Now we come to deliverance, and that is the last thing. All that I have been speaking of is not deliverance, but now we have it. Notice that the believer is never outside the dwelling-place of God. He dwells there; that is where the life of God, this blessed principle in us, abides.
The writers quoted here say "tabernacle" where the ESV says "tent." Both name God's dwelling-place. It is not only where the song happens. It is what makes the song possible.
The immediate application here is to human enemies, though the literal sanctuary gives only the picture of spiritual truths of much wider range. For us, the way of escape from spiritual foes is exactly what is indicated here! God has lifted us high upon the rock-foundation of Christ's blessed work. In Him we have entered the heavenly sanctuary, and there we are hidden from the enemy... So the sanctuary is our safe retreat at all times. It is the place where the world takes its true shape for us. There our entanglement with it is loosened, the darkness and mist disappear, sin is rebuked and banished, and the holiness of truth is found... Here the head is lifted up over all enemies, and the sacrifice of praise becomes the necessary relief of a full and grateful heart.
The lifting up is not a private comfort. It is public, and it is given for a use.
Set free from the fear of enemies and enjoying the presence of the Lord, the believer is supported in the time of trouble — "hidden" and "kept." In the future, when the trouble has passed, he will be exalted in public above all his enemies. He will use this place of glory for the praise of the Lord.
A sacrifice of joy can sound like a contradiction. One writer sets it beside the sacrifice of a broken spirit.
Strange as it may seem, this sacrifice does not clash with the sacrifice of a broken spirit. It is one of the lovely "contradictions" of the Scriptures that we can be "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." Yes, I think we can bring the sacrifice of a broken spirit and sacrifices of joy at the same time. And perhaps such offerings are especially acceptable to God — the joy and sorrow mingling.
Commentators also read the psalm as the song of Christ. One writer hears Him singing it in spirit while trouble closed in.
And now it was that, in spirit, He sang the twenty-seventh Psalm. The Lord was His light and His salvation — whom should He fear? He had just seen God's glory in the sanctuary. According to this Psalm, His longing was to dwell in that house of the Lord forever. It was a time of trouble, that is true. But in spirit His head was lifted up above His enemies. He was soon to offer sacrifices of joy in the tabernacle, and sing His praises to the Lord.
Others look ahead, to a deliverance still to come and two groups singing at once.
They long for the earthly sanctuary, we for our heavenly home. Then follows praise. Their heads will be lifted up. Israel will sing on earth when their earthly hope and deliverance has come, while the praises of His church fill the heavens above.
- Hidden first. God's shelter comes before any rescue. He never moves the believer out of His dwelling-place.
- Then lifted. The enemies are not cleared away in advance — their assault becomes the occasion for the head to rise.
- Lifted for a reason. Once the trouble has passed, the place of glory is used in public for the praise of the Lord.
- Costly singing. A sacrifice of joy can be brought at the same time as a broken spirit — sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.
- Still to come. Commentators hear this song in Christ in His time of trouble, and hear it still ahead — Israel singing on earth, the church filling heaven.