PSALM 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?

TO PONDER

Psalm 27 is a confession of King David’s faith that he is in God’s care and protection. As we read the biblical books of Samuel and the Psalms, we see that this is a characteristic of David through all of his life, from a young lad caring for his father’s sheep, to working for King Saul and then being hunted by King Saul and finally becoming King himself.

David wasn’t perfect (he was guilty of adultery and murder and seeking to take credit himself for what God had achieved for him), but he always acknowledged his failures and his complete dependence on God.

In this psalm, David talks about God being his light and this light taking away his fears. I’ve experienced total darkness a few times in my life. The scariest one was in an underground city in Cappadocia during a holiday in Türkiye. When the tour guide turned the lights out, it was absolute darkness, and there is no way I would attempt to move an inch (or cm) since I didn’t know what I would bump into. And, of course, if the lights didn’t come back on, there was the very scary prospect of trying to find my way out of there, with tunnels going off in all directions, and it being very easy to lose one’s sense of direction. And I did feel a sense of panic.

Coming back to seeing God as providing light, there are two aspects of this: the light to guide us out of difficult situations; and the light to guide us as we follow the leading of Holy Spirit in doing what God is calling us to do. In many of the psalms, David addresses this first aspect of God’s light, guiding and protecting him when he is being attacked in many different ways.

But, in our theme for this week, we are focusing more on the light God provides us to see the way forward as we follow the leading of Holy Spirit. Many of us would like God to shine His light to illuminate the future so that we could see the big picture of where He is leading us, but I suspect that if we saw it, it would scare the daylights out of us and we would curl up into a foetal position in absolute fear. Rather, our Heavenly Family wants us to learn to trust Their love and commitment to us, so the light They often provide is just for the few steps ahead so we can go safely forward, guided by Holy Spirit beside us, encouraging and guiding us along the way. We end up getting to where God is leading us, without being frightened or distracted by what is happening around us.

Prayer: Heavenly Family, thank You for all the ways You reveal Your truths and purpose for our lives. Thank You that Holy Spirit is always providing the light to illuminate the paths You are guiding us in taking. Amen

Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping