Sunset in Kalbarri, WA
Had any “lightbulb moments” lately? According to the dictionary definition these are “a moment of sudden realization, enlightenment, or inspiration.”
My biggest and most important one was 47 years ago when the “light” of God’s truth shone deep into my being and I realized just how much God loved me. At that moment I said “yes” to Jesus and life has never been the same again! You couldn’t ask for a better companion in life than Jesus.
Before we move on in this remarkable psalm I want us to ponder one extremely important word the psalmist uses describing God and consider other Bible verses where this word is used. The word is “light” and it appears in verse 1 as follows
The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?
The word “light” can be either a noun, a verb or an adjective. In the Bible, at different times it is used as all three. Here in Psalm 27 it is a noun, in the sense that David is saying that “The Lord is my Revelation Light to guide me along the way!” (TPT) But it could also be understood here as an adjective, i.e. light describing a certain aspect of the very being of God, his nature, his character – as found in 1 John 1:5 “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” We shall consider this further, but firstly, note the personal pronoun, ‘my’, before the word. Here the psalmist not only speaks of this wonderful attribute of God’s being, but says that this same God, who is light, is in an intimate relationship with him.
Kidner comments on this:
“Light is a natural figure for almost everything that is positive, from truth and goodness to joy and vitality…to name but a few. Here is the answer to fear and to the forces of evil [in our broken world].” (see references # 29)
Consider the following verses:
Send me your light and your faithful care,
let them lead me…
to the place where you dwell. (Psalm 43:3)
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness. (Isaiah 5:20)
Light shines on the righteous
and joy on the upright in heart. (Psalm 97:11)
Longman adds:
“God is [the psalmist’s] light, the significance of which must be understood in contrast to the darkness…Darkness is often associated with disorder, confusion and eventually evil…
You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light. (Psalm 18:28)
Wicked deeds are done in the dark, and the light exposes them…” (see references # 30)
Although my photo above is of a sunset, the sunrise is the actual time when the darkness is dispersed by the power of the light of the sun. No matter how thick the cloud cover, it cannot prevent the day light from filtering in and bringing some light and warmth to the earth and its people. What a good, amazing Creator we worship.
And so, this word light is used over 250 times in the Bible. We shall look at just a few of them.
Right at the very beginning of everything we know today, when our awesome “God created the heavens and the earth”, He spoke and said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:1, 3-4)
Later we read of Moses blessing the people, and in the knowledge that the One who created light is Himself Light, he prays:
“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
This blessing would ultimately be fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah as prophesied by Isaiah:
“The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)
Jesus later said concerning himself:
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (John 12:46)
The Apostle Paul wrote:
“God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might forever.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16)
The Apostle John then wrote these vital words for each one of us to read, understand and apply in our lives:
“This is the message we have heard from [Jesus] and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5-10)
Commenting on these verses, Andy Bathgate (Scripture Union notes) says:
“How can we have fellowship with the God who lives in ‘unapproachable light’ (see 1 Timothy 6 above), undimmed by our imperfection? We must ‘walk in the light’ (v 7), allowing the spotlight of God’s holiness to show us up for what we are. That unclothing would be devastating if the light only unmasked our deficiencies, but it also floodlights the Lord Jesus, whose blood can purify us [from all our sin].
Consciousness of sin as an offence against God [seems to be] a folk memory in our [Western] society. The [so-called] ‘death of God’ [philosophy] leaves us ‘sin-free’ but struggling to know what to do with our guilt. We end up hiving off blame onto others, cleverly excusing ourselves. John’s diagnosis? We have evaded the light.” (Encounter with God 2009)
It’s time to stop evading and instead to embrace the truth that Jesus is our light and salvation. Then and then only will we be purified from all unrighteousness and be reconciled to our Father.
So, the question we need to ask ourselves today is, can we say with real conviction and confidence that The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?
The second word David uses in Psalm 27:1 is salvation. He says that God is not only his light but also his salvation! The word means, “deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.” In the Bible it includes, “deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ.”
The Good News of Jesus is about living our lives in spiritual light instead of spiritual darkness; about deliverance from the consequences of our sin; about being able to live in a right relationship with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus, “the light of the world.”
Thankyou Jesus that you came to deliver us from living in spiritual darkness and through your death and resurrection to bring us into your kingdom of light. Today I confess my rebellion against you and put my trust in you, Jesus, Son of God, as my light and salvation and offer my life to you. Thank you for your forgiveness, deliverance, love and grace. Amen.
Tehilim (Psalms) - "songs of praise". 