A Candle of Hope

“For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.” (Ps 18:28 AV)

Psalm eighteen is one of the Psalms which David writes upon the death of Saul and all those who sought his life.  No doubt those eight years of flight were dark.  The last sixteen months were particularly so.  Finding the need to dwell in Ziklag of the Philistines lest Saul continues to seek his life, it may have given him a bit of respite, but it certainly wasn’t the time of his life.  Those sixteen months were not exactly filled with joy.  His own parents were on the other side Jordon with the Moabites.  His family was in Judah.  David was all alone.  Right before the battle that took Saul’s life, the Amalekites invaded Ziklag as David and his men were in Gath.  They came back to a burnt-out city.  They came back to all their wives and children kidnapped.  David’s men wanted to stone him.  This is now low David had gotten.  When word came back that Saul was dead, it was like someone lit a candle in a very dark room.  It may not have been a flood of overwhelming light, but it was enough to encourage his heart that God still cared.  The darkness may not have been completely eliminated, but enough light was given that there was no hope for the future.  Hope is a powerful thing!  We don’t need a whole lot.  One candle may not seem like a whole lot of light.  But in a pitch-black room, one candle is all one would need.

Years ago, I went through an initiation that today would probably be considered a bit on the non-PC spectrum.  This initiation required each individual to be dropped off in the woods in the pitch-black darkness with nothing more than a poncho and a sleeping bag.  No flashlight.  No tent.  No pillow.  No matches.  No water.  No food.  Just a sleeping bag and poncho.  What made this worse was it was an early summer night where temperatures still got down into the fifties and it was raining.  We had no idea where we were or how to get back to camp.  Each boy was separated far enough that we couldn’t see each other.  We were sworn to twenty-four hours of silence.  Failure to survive the night or speaking the next day automatically meant one had failed the test.  By far, the most miserable night of my life.  Mosquitoes were relentless.  The slow drip of the rain was like a loud drum beat.  I’ll have to confess.  I cheated.  I wore a watch that had a bright backlight to it.  It was bright enough to see a few inches in front of my face.  Bright enough to kill each little bloodsucker that came around.  Bright enough to watch the hours go by which brought the hope of sunrise.  This little light was all I needed to survive the night.  As long as I could see the hours ticking by and knowing my guardians would arrive early, it was the hope that I had.  I didn’t need much.  I didn’t need a roaring bonfire.  All I needed was the light of my Timex watch to endure the torture of the darkness.

This is the power of hope.  Hope that only God can give.  This hope is available to the child of God by the Word of God.  The more we read of the goodness and faithfulness of the LORD, the more we are encouraged through these dark times.  We have hope which the lost world does not have.  We have to remember this.  We may be impatient with those who think pestilence is the worst the world can thrust upon us.  But it is not.  We have to remember they are reacting this way because they have little hope.  They do not know the LORD nor have the comfort of eternal life.  We have both.  We need to stop listening to the voices that would rob us of hope.  We are not saying we should remain naïve regarding the seriousness of this, or any other set of circumstances.  Absolutely we should take prudent precautions.  But not at the expense of hope.  God is still in control.  He knew from eternity past 2020 was going to bring about this challenge.  The pride of man has thrown this upon us.  God did not.  God is a merciful God who gives us the way out.  That way out is repentance and faith.  We have hope.  Our hope is in eternal life and a God of all grace.  The darkness is still there.  But there is a candle lit.  The candle of hope!