The Lord is My Light

Hey, friends,

Psalm 27 has been one of my favorite chapters in the Bible for many, many moons now.  I memorized it as a young whipper-snapper by listening to a recording of a worship leader reading it between songs – and I can recite it exactly the way he did, including the one stumble and correction he makes.  Funny the way the mind works.

It begins with a resounding and confident,

The LORD is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?

I can pull oh so many noteworthy things out of this simple line, but I want to focus on how the Lord is our light.  Light is necessary to sustain human life and function because light is crucial to our vision (what we see is determined by the amount of light present) and because light provides a source of warmth.

Light is a theme that is reiterated time and again all throughout Scripture.  Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:12); believers ought to let their lights shine (Matthew 5:16); in the not-so-distant future when we are called home, Jesus Christ will literally be our sun (Rev 21:23)...  Many great theologians and classic teachers of God's Word have taught on the importance of light as depicted in the Bible.  But let's take a quick look at darkness...

So many people are scared of the dark.  In fact, a shocking 6 out of 10 adults are scared of the dark.  Some scientists say this fear is perpetuated because darkness is connected to the unexpected.  I remember once when I was a teenager visiting a haunted house attraction with some friends, the most frightening part was when the lights cut out.  I may or may not have jumped into my friend's arms.  Whatever it is about the dark that is so scary and uncertain, it's safe to say that most people avoid pitch black, and even safer to say that we need light to survive.

This is big, then, to say that the Lord is our light.  What we are saying is that He Himself is our sustenance and expels fear.  He provides what we need.  His presence calms us.  His Word is a light to our path... we see where we are going and have no fear of stepping on a Lego or bumping our shin against a coffee table.  Spiritually speaking, we can move forward without the terror of the unknown plaguing us and without the haunts of the darkness demonizing us.  Like the psalmist David wrote: "Whom shall I fear?"

It is natural to me, in light of this (no pun intended), that David linked light and salvation.  God provides what we need and drives out the darkness inside us – the death we brought on ourselves and our corrupt sin-tendencies – and in doing so, saves us.

Thank God that anyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved and experience the glorious light of God... and not some generic light that will ultimately fade with each passing trend and manmade ideology, but the perfect and true Light that is Jesus Christ.  Friend, if you feel like you are stumbling around in spiritual darkness, look to Jesus today.  He knows you deeply and loves you profoundly.  Let Him rescue you to a world of technicolor light.

All my love,
Josh