The Lord Is My Light And My Salvation

The LORD is My Light and My Salvation

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked came against me

To eat up my flesh,

My enemies and foes,

They stumbled and fell.

Though an army may encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear;

Though war may rise against me,

In this I will be confident.

One thing I have desired of the Lord,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord,

And to inquire in His temple.

For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

In the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;

Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!

Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When You said, “Seek My face,”

My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

Do not hide Your face from me;

Do not turn Your servant away in anger;

You have been my help;

Do not leave me nor forsake me,

O God of my salvation.

When my father and my mother forsake me,

Then the Lord will take care of me.

Teach me Your way, O Lord,

And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.

Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;

For false witnesses have risen against me,

And such as breathe out violence.

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed

That I would see the goodness of the Lord

In the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord;

Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart;

Wait, I say, on the Lord!

We come this morning to the third Sunday in the season of Epiphany. As we have noted the word “epiphany” means to reveal or shining. This is the season in which we remember that Jesus, the Light of the World was revealed unto us Gentiles as well it has been and is revealed unto the Jews. Light is a powerful metaphor because physical light is powerful. Without the sun which God created, nothing would grow. All would be icy cold and barren. It is no wonder that the creation of light comes first in the days of creation. Light shows us hazards and dangers in our path and helps us avoid falling into traps. Light also enlightens the beauty of creation and gives us cheer to our existence. The beauties of the LORD leads us to praise the One who made them.

The metaphor of light is also very powerful. There is light beyond physical light. there are beauties that cannot be seen by natural eyes. There are dangers beyond the dangers we can see. Ultimately, there is God who is invisible to the natural eyes save that this Word became flesh and was seen through this veil when He walked on earth. He is the Light of the World, as He said while on earth. He walked on the earth where people could see and hear with the natural senses. They could see and hear dangers. They could sense in a way that there was something behind light and darkness. Many religions have tried to explain this light and darkness, good and evil. Zoroastrianism is one such religion. Even those who bowed before idols of gold and wood believed there was a force beyond these visible objects. they knew thee physical representations could not breathe, move, or eat. But what, or better, who, lay behind these graven images? No earthly image could represent the Creator of all. Only the image of the invisible God could, which is at the core of Christian Doctrine found in the first Chapter of Colossians.

We see a powerful demonstration of the Light of God in the psalm we read this morning. Millions of people have loved this psalm originally written by King David. Majestic songs have been written from the text of this psalm. Let us now look into these words.

David begins with the words “The LORD is my light and my salvation.” This answers the question as to Whom lies behind all reality. It is Yahweh (I AM) who is the reason any of us have life, purpose, and meaning. “The” is a very important word here as it makes the light exclusive. There may be luminaries such as the sun and the stars which give light. But even these are subject to the One God and creator which makes them His servants. Their light can only declare God’s glory (Psalm 19:1). The pronoun “my” makes David’s declaration personal. The LORD is savior of all, in particular to those who believe (on Jesus). Many claim falsely some other light in their life to be their inspiration. However, only the LORD is truly THE light and source of Salvation. When Jesus says “I AM the Light of the World, there is no room for substitutions. “In Him was light, and the light of men.” This is a universal declaration that Jesus the Son lies behind all things in creation. He is the one who created all things. This universal truth does not stand alone. We must believe on Him. We must put our full trust in Him.