Prayer: Lord, bring light to our darkness as we gaze upon you this day we pray. Amen
Is anyone here afraid of the dark?
I certainly was a young child. I remember leaving the bedroom door ajar with a light on in the hallway, so it wasn’t pitch black. A little bit of light makes all the difference, it can make us feel secure. Even outside, the light of the moon and stars makes one feel that bit safer. In the dark we are likely to stumble and fall and fear any little noises, not knowing what may be surrounding us, or what we may step into!
What does light mean to you?
Think about the different lights that we use or are part of the natural light.
The Sun -first thing God created “let there be light!”. Can be bright light or soft light depending on cloud cover. Warmth/ heat. Brings a new day. Helps things grow. Nurtures. Provides essential Vit D…
The moon and stars – brighten the night, gives light in the darkness – makes it beautiful – think of those sparkling star constellations on a clear night. Marks seasons/ tides. The waxing and waning.
Electric lights – helps us to see what we are doing in the nighttime. We can continue to work or play, we can see each other.
Lighthouses – guide the ships away from rocks, keep them safe.
Candles – pre-electric light – still essential for when electricity fails. But also brings comfort and atmosphere – in a bath, or romantic dinner😊
Fire – warmth and light (though can be dangerous) and symbolic throughout the bible. Think of the Lord in the burning bush speaking to Moses…
Psalm 27 begins with The Lord is my light. This is a psalm of David, and we might ask what did he mean by saying that the Lord is his light?
After reflecting on what light means to us, then perhaps we can relate that to how we might see God as our light. He shines in the darkness, to lighten our way, to guide us on the path, he brings us warmth of spirit, he feeds and nurtures us, his light keeps us safe, he fills us with his light. David would have known the story of the exodus where God led his people out of the darkness of slavery, how he led them through the night with a pillar of fire. The Lord was literally their light and their salvation as he rescued them from the hands of the enemy.
Light dispels the darkness. It takes away our fear. Returning to my childhood, and that of my own children, we know how just putting on a light brings feeling of safety and comfort and protection if awoken in fright in the dark night. With a light left on they could calmly go back to sleep believing that the ‘boogey monsters’ wouldn’t get them.
God is our light, whom shall we fear?
Who was David afraid of as he wrote this psalm? It seems he was being pursued by enemies who sought to devour him. But rather than succumbing to fear, even though an army besieged him, and war broke out against him, David says his heart will not fear…and that he will be confident.
Where does this confidence lie? In the Lord, his light and salvation.
You see even in the midst of darkness and attacks we can know God’s peace and his light in our lives. This is what we pray for our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine and Russia and other places throughout the world where they are suffering attacks from dark forces.
We pray that like David, they will look to the Lord, that despite their circumstances that the Lord will fill their hearts with his light. We pray this for our brothers and sisters who live in the darkness of mental or spiritual oppression, that they may seek the Lord and that he will fill them with his light and banish the darkness that takes hold. We pray this for our brothers and sisters who live in the darkness of sin and evil who take hold of them, that they may turn from the darkness and receive God’s light and salvation.
We can learn so much from this psalm and David’s heart. David wasn’t perfect, he sinned and made some major mistakes in his life, but we read in 1 Samuel 13, that God chose him to be his anointed King because he was a man after his own heart.
In psalm 27, David shows us where his heart is. He says that there is just one thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
In other psalms we often read of David asking rescue from his enemies, but here we read that he just longs to see God, in verse 8 we read; my heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
He knows that the antidote to his fear is to look to the Lord, to seek him, to gaze upon his beauty. Paul echoes this in his letter to the Philippians, in his final exhortations he is wanting his readers to know God’s peace that passes all understanding, peace that dispels anxiety and fear. He encourages them to think on whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy …and the God of peace will be with you.
Jesus of course is all those things, he is the most beautiful person we can behold, and think on. It is his face we should seek. As we gaze upon Jesus, who declares himself in John 8 to be the light of the world, then our fear should fade away. I’m sure many of you know the chorus…
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
I am reading this book at present; Gentle and Lowly, the heart of Christ for sinners and sufferers by Dane Ortland. Chapter 10 is entitled ‘The beauty of the heart of Christ’ and refers to a sermon from the 18th Century preacher Jonathan Edwards, where he says that there is no love so great and so wonderful as that which is the heart of Christ, and that “everything that is lovely in God is in Christ…he is the holiest, meekest, most humble, and every way the most excellent man that ever was”. In Isaiah 53 it says that Jesus will have no outward beauty to attract us to him…his beauty was not his physical appearance. It was his holiness. Jesus was God in the flesh, so as David seeks to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, we have Jesus to look upon, to meditate on, we have his light to fill us and dispel the darkness that may encroach upon our hearts and minds.
Jesus is the light we need to turn on when we are afraid. For in the day of trouble, says David in this psalm, he will keep us safe, hide us in his shelter and set us high upon a rock, then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; …I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Notice David doesn’t say that his enemies have departed, they are still there, but as he gazes on the beauty of the Lord then he feels his head lifted high. He will not be defeated, he will not fear, he will trust in the Lord. He will praise the Lord. There are plenty of examples of this in the bible. My mind went to Daniel in the lion’s den, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. They faced their enemies with their heads lifted high as they looked to the Lord. Think of Paul and Silas in prison singing songs of praise and witnessing to their jailer, they kept their heads lifted high, they trusted and followed their Lord as their light and salvation.
Think of Stephen who was martyred, the Lord kept his head lifted high even as he was being stoned. Listen to this from Acts chapter 7. The members of the Sanhedrin were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God… While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”.
Stephen, like David had his heart on the ‘one thing’ to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to dwell in his house forever.
Stephen wasn’t rescued from his enemies on earth, but he did receive salvation and is dwelling in the house of the Lord forever, he was able to die with his head held high as he saw the glory of God and Jesus.
What is the ‘one thing’ we seek?
Do we long to see Jesus, to dwell in his house forever?
When we are afraid do we trust in the Lord? As the enemy continues to advance in our world, do we succumb to fear or do we lift our eyes to Jesus and trust in him.
Jesus is the one we can place our hope in. The one who knows our fears, who feels our pain, who weeps with us. In our gospel reading in Luke 13 today we read that Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he longed to gather his children under his wings like a hen with her chicks. Many choose to live in the darkness, rather than follow the light and come under his protection.
Jesus is the light, and he calls us to shine as lights in the world. Will we share our hope and the comfort that Jesus brings to those who are in darkness and fear? I saw a beautiful example of Christians shining the light of Christ as I watched a little bit of the red cross tv appeal for Australian flood victims last night. A group of Fijian men were videoed gently carrying elderly men and women to safety from their aged care home. These men were noticed – and they were chosen to sing a song for national television. They continued to shine the light of Jesus as they sang with the words… We have overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of the Lord. The disaster happened and the effects are still felt, but these men knew of and sang of God’s light and salvation. Through his blood and resurrection Jesus overcame death itself and through him and his word we also can overcome all things.
As we put our trust in the Lord, he fills us with the Holy Spirit. When the disciples received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost it appeared like tongues of fire that rested on their heads. Another image of light. This same light lives in us, guiding us, comforting us, and giving us power and courage in times of trouble and to shine and share the good news of Jesus.
At this time in our world, when many are living in fear, let us be praying for the Lord’s light to shine in the darkness, bringing hope and peace.
When we are feeling afraid, let us remember the ‘one thing’ that we should seek, the ‘one thing’ that will dispel our fear – that is to seek and gaze on the beauty of the Lord.
Let us remain confident in the Lord like David, who finishes with this advice to his readers and no doubt it was for himself also…
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
May the light of Jesus shine in our hearts. Amen.