Please, Lord, Flip The Switch

“O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.” (Ps 43:3 AV)

 

When the word of God metaphorically uses the word ‘light’ it could mean several things.  Sometimes the word means truth.  However, here truth is separate from ‘light’.  Light can also mean life.  Both physical and spiritual.  Light can mean hope.  Light can mean the zeal of life.  Light can have a host of meanings but in the above verse, because there is a distinction between light and truth with the word ‘and’, we know our fellow saint means more than asking God to send out the truth.  The Hebrew word for ‘light’ as used above means literal light.  The light of day.   Sunlight.  Moonlight.  The light of stars of other luminaries.  Secondarily, the word means the light of life; the light of prosperity; the light of instruction; the light of face; or Israel as the means by which the light of truth goes to other nations.  In verse two, the writer complains about the persecution from other nations.  He is trodden down of spirit.  Therefore, the light spoken of here is the light of strength and hope.  David knows that he cannot come into the presence of God without strength, hope, and the truth.  Of this light, David seeks an abundance.

We’ve all been in a situation where we knew something had to be done and we were the only ones who could do it, yet we simply didn’t have the strength or enthusiasm to think it could be done.  We looked at the task and knew it had to be completed, but we simply didn’t think we had the ability to get it done.  Then something happened.  Somewhere, somehow, we applied ourselves one step at a time and the job got done.  When we started, we were discouraged and hopeless.  When completed, we stood amazed at what was just accomplished.  When I think of this, I go back to the snows of my childhood.  Recently, my home state was on the national news because they had received seven feet of snow in less than three days.  That is a lot of snow.  A friend of mine and I were talking about living in that kind of weather and he could not fathom having to see seven feet of snow with drifts five feet higher than that.  When you are a teenager and the snow is as high as you are, the task of removing it is overwhelming, to say the least.  It doesn’t take long at all for a young man to give up.

Sometimes, it is not so much knowing what to do as it is having the strength and enthusiasm to get it done.  Sometimes it is not so much understanding the battle and the choices which lay before us as it is having the fortitude to make it happen.  It has been shared with me that weariness is often a gateway to failure.  When we are strong and ready for battle, temptation is easily turned aside.  It is when the battle has weakened us that temptation becomes harder to resist.  When the enemy is constantly harassing us, we can get worn down and relent because there is little to no strength within.  David certainly felt this way.  The enemies of his throne had worn him down to the point he couldn’t be motivated to draw close to God.  It is at this point we must pray for strength.  Perhaps not the strength of the body.  Rather, the strength of soul and spirit.