Psalms 27:1

The psalm opens with two rhetorical questions — "whom shall I fear?", "of whom shall I be afraid?" — and the rest of the chapter shows they are not naïve: there are enemies, armies encamped, false witnesses and even the possibility of being abandoned by one's parents.

The structure of the answer is a ladder: light (to see), salvation (to escape), strength (to hold out). Each word answers a different kind of fear.

There is a change of tone halfway through. The psalm begins full of confidence and, in verse 7, turns to pleading: "Hear, Lord, when I cry with my voice." That oscillation is honest and recognizable to anyone who has had firm faith in the morning and fear at night.

The closing is one of the best lines about waiting: "Wait for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord." The repetition suggests that waiting is something that needs to be said twice before it is done.