27 Days Left...Psalms 27

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?

This is verse 1 of Psalms 27. "The Lord is my light." 


Light has always symbolized understanding, wisdom, truth, knowledge. Just think of all those idioms. "Shine light on the subject." "Bring something to light." "A guiding light." "I have seen the light!" 


Here the psalmist says the Lord is his light. The Lord has revealed the Truth to him. He can only see the truth now through the Lord. What he could not decipher or was not evident is now clear. Like the old hymn says, "Once was blind, but now I see."

For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. -- Psalms 18:28

For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. -- Psalms 36:9

Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me;let them bring me to your holy hill    and to your dwelling! -- Psalms 43:3

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. -- Isaiah 60:1 

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” -- John 8:12 

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. -- 1 John 1:5 

In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes:

"God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers. If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all. But, fortunately it works the other way round. Anyone who is honestly trying to be a Christian will soon find his intelligence being sharpened: one of the reasons why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself. That is why an uneducated believer like Bunyan was able to write a book that has astonished the whole world." (Mere Christianity: Book Three: Christian Behavior: The 'Cardinal Virtues')

I have witnessed this in my own life. When I started really reading & studying the Bible, I started noticing I was understanding things. I was understanding things in the Bible I never understood before. Even in life, I was understanding things that didn't have anything to do with what I was studying in the Bible at the time. I also noticed I was able to articulate my thoughts better. My communication, especially writing, skills improved greatly. (Please don't think that I think I am some kind of great writer or orator. I don't. But, if you were to read some of my past stuff, you might be able to see a difference. Even if my wording isn't better, the ease, joy, length of my writing is incomparably better.)


Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that reading the Bible is some magical incantation to greater wisdom. However, Psalms 111:10 states, 

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!"

Once a person has truly seen the light of the Lord & that light is within him, he is commanded to not, & cannot, hide it. As part of His famous "Sermon on the Mount," Jesus says, 

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16)

dc Talk - In the Light from josiahtwitch1990 on GodTube.