Day 26: Our Light
Read: Psalm 27
When you’ve turned off the lights in a dark room such as a basement, have you felt the urgency to and run up the stairs as fast as you can as if the darkness is closing around you? Then when you finally see the light under the crack in the door you feel relieved? I can remember feeling this way just about any time I had to be in my family’s basement. The darkness felt uneasy as if it was trying to trap me. While this is an irrational fear, darkness is scary. It is something that we can find ourselves in without even knowing. Darkness is not limited to a lack of physical light. Our world is full of darkness, but we can have hope because there is a light.
In Psalm 27 we read David describing God as his light. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear…” David looked to the Lord as a symbol of light and hope where he felt safe and found strength in hard times. The passage continues with illustrations of the hard times David was facing and then moves toward more hope found in God. Verse 5 reads, “For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.” David is proclaiming that God will protect him and bring him out of this storm that he is in. The same goes for you and me. God is our light and hope in dark times.
Our faith is meant to be a source of joy. We read this in verse 6, “And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.” David is worshiping God and experiencing joy in his faith. Worship is often at the bottom of our priorities when we are on rock bottom, but it is in these times that it should be at the top. It is in the presence of God that joy is found.
As the psalm continues, David begins expressing his trust in God and asks for God’s will to be done in his life. Asking for God’s will to be done is an act of humility and submission. Because God is the source of light and all that is good, it makes sense in His will we find the most hope and joy. This does not always mean that circumstances become easier. Often, as in David’s case, it includes patience and trust. Verse 14 says, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” God’s will does not always like up with our own, but we can trust that is good nonetheless because it belongs to God. Through times of darkness, when we feel lost, it is important to exercise faith, find joy in it, and seek God’s perfect will.
If you are experiencing a season of darkness, I challenge you to seek God. When sitting in darkness, don’t only look to the darkness around you. Turn eyes towards God. Thank God for being a light in a sea of darkness