“Strike me down, Darth, and I will become more powerful than you can imagine.”

What do these words uttered by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars Episode IV) have to do with these verses in Psalm 27?

The fictional character, Obi-Wan, understood the bigger picture where Darth Vader, his former pupil now turned adversary, was concerned only with the immediate. David understood the bigger picture, and this perspective gives us (or SHOULD give us) the same confidence that David portrays in these verses.

Here is the video link:

Psalm 27:1-3 “Whom Shall I Fear?”

The audio links are to the right (Spotify and iTunes)

The transcript used to produce the podcast is below:

Psalm 27

Whom Shall I Fear?

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked advance against me
    to devour[a] me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

“According to the Old Testament, King David fought 8-9 major battles and did not lose any of them. ”

Did David Ever Lose a Battle?. https://homework.study.com/explanation/how-many-battles-did-king-david-win

The first verse has two statements that begin with the present tense phrase “The Lord IS…”

1. The Lord is my light and my salvation…
2. The Lord is the stronghold of my life…

It amazes me when I think about it. This man who had moral failures of immense magnitude (apparently his personal adult family life was a train wreck) could still make the claims he makes here. However, he DID win every military battle he ever engaged in. As a result he could confidently assert what he asserts here. When it came to military engagement, he was confident and fearless. In his role as the leader of Israel, David was confident in his alliance with God and feared no enemy. His perspective was an eternal one where he realized that no matter what the world around him looked like, the Lord assured him of victory.

I worked with a filmmaker once in a Fine Arts Academy. She told me that every great story has elements of the Greatest Story. She told me that even if the film I was watching was not about God, there would be “God-moments” and to watch for them. Somewhere there would be someone who would sacrifice themself. Somewhere there would be a heroic stand against apparently insurmountable odds. I took her advice to look for these “God-moments”. I remember my “aha!” moment in StarWars Episode IV where Obi-wan Kenobi was fighting Darth Vader and as their battle progressed, Obi-wan tells Darth Vader “If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine.” Obi-wan was not afraid of death because he saw the much bigger picture. That’s David in this Psalm. He is absolutely NOT afraid because he knows and sees the much bigger picture.

I have never been any good at fighting, so I cannot identify with that aspect of David’s life. But there is an area in my life where I am utterly confident within the skillset God has blessed me with, and it is that of music. After over fifty years of being a part-time or a full-time musician, I can honestly say that there is nothing musical that frightens me anymore. God has granted me the honored privilege of being a musician, and I realize that all of that confidence and my track record as a professional musician is directly connected to my relationship with God. He alone is responsible for my attraction to, and my never-ending search for musical knowledge. When it comes to what I do with the music God has instilled within me I am utterly confident and without fear.

I am blessed in my senior years – I am currently 68 years old as of this podcast – to have seen God move in so many ways in my life. As a result, I can honestly say that nothing in this life can move me off the foundation of my understanding of God’s power and ability to save and deliver. The day will come for me – as it will for everybody – when my final battle with this world will be finished and that final battle will apparently be won by the world, as I will succumb to death. At that moment, this world will have achieved what it believes is a victory over this child of God. But like the fictional character Obi-wan Kenobi, the very second this world vanquishes me, I will become more powerful than it can possibly imagine.

With that thought in mind, let me read these verses once more:

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
    of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked advance against me
    to devour[a] me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

Ten thousand years from now, I will remember those moments when I was mortal and life’s turmoil seemed insurmountable and overwhelming. I will put those events and enemies against the backdrop of God’s power and might and see the truth. 

Be Blessed!

Paige