“For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.” (2Sa 22:29 AV)
This
is spoken by David the king after the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies. David had a hard life. It started at seventeen years of age. He was anointed to be king in the stead of a
king, Saul, who was in rebellion against God.
Saul, instructed to wait on the man of God, decided to offer a sacrifice
for which he was not authorized. This choice
started a string of choices wherein Saul did his own thing. God sent the man of God to David who would
anoint him to be king upon Saul’s death.
However, Saul pursued the life of David for thirteen or so years. During those years, David fought numerous enemies
of the nation of Israel. Upon taking the
throne, David continued to fight battles with those who were a threat to
Israel. Add to that the rebellion of Absalom,
the betrayal of Ahithophel, the initial rejection of the ten tribes in bringing
David back, Shimei the Benjamite who harassed David, and Joab, his military
captain who disobeyed a direct order and killed the king’s son. David’s life was full of adversity. David had many dark days. However, it was his walk with God that
lightened those otherwise desperate days.
Light
is a funny thing. Light has to be let
in. For light to have its effect, that
which it is trying to effect must receive it.
Otherwise, the light has no benefit.
It’s funny how children react while lying in bed, scared of something
that isn’t there. They bury themselves
in their sheets and blankets expecting the absence of light to shut out the
threat. As long as it cannot be seen,
then it must not be a real threat. The
boogeyman is under the bed. But if he
covers his head with the blanket, it keeps the boogeyman away. If there is a monster in the closet, as long
as he is cuddled up in a ball under the blankets and pillows, the monster in
the closet cannot come and get him. He
hides from the light needed to see the threat is not as big as he first
suspected. He needs the light to see the
threat may not be real at all. Yet, there
he is, calling out to Mother to come and rescue him from something he cannot,
or will not see.
When
we are overwhelmed, we tend to be turtles.
We tend to regress into our shells.
Our flight instinct kicks in and we forget the LORD is bigger than
whatever it is we are facing. The light
of God’s word, presence, and power is far and above greater than that which
overwhelms us. The thing is, light has
to be let in. Light cannot bend around
corners. That is, it cannot naturally
bend around corners. Light cannot pierce
through a solid object of mean thickness.
Light has properties that it must conform to and in order for you and me
to reap the benefits of light, we have to learn its nature and apply it
accordingly. The same is true of the
light of God. The light of God has
properties. One of which God’s light
responds to faith. Where there is no
faith, there is no light. One must believe
the light to be there to see it.
Gratitude is another principle that guides light. Even if we have faith, if gratitude is in
short supply, so might God’s light be.
Another influence that can determine God’s light is obedience. He will not provide light if we are going in
the wrong direction. All this is true,
but the one idea we want to see is the hope and joy in David’s voice. He knows, by the experiences of life, no
matter the situation, God’s light will pierce the emotional, spiritual, or
physical darkness which surrounds him.
Like a beam of light shooting through a dark room, God’s light goes
directly to the problem. It is that
light that gives us hope and peace in difficult situations.
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