Word of Encouragement (01/02/2024)

For you are my lamp, O LORD, and my God lightens my darkness. ³⁰ For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. ³¹ This God--his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (2 Sam. 22:29-31)

David shares why it is so wonderful to have God in our lives. He speaks of God as our lamp (v. 29). No darkness in this world is so dim that light cannot brighten. Likewise, no human misery is so dark that the light of God’s presence cannot brighten. As God is so much greater than man, so is His light so much brighter than the darkness of human misery. Isn’t this wonderful? No matter how wretched we feel, if we turn to God in the name of Jesus Christ, we can have His comfort and healing.

Why does David liken the LORD to a lamp here rather than to the sun or the moon as the Bible often does in other passages? Throughout the day, the sun so completely dominates over darkness that we are not even aware of any darkness. And at night, the moon is there to provide light amid the darkness of the night, especially when it is a full moon and there are no clouds. Aren’t they better representations of the power of divine light? Yes, they are. Then, why the imagery of a lamp?

Maybe what David has in mind here is not so much how powerful the light of God’s presence is as how available it is to us. When we are outside, we can see the brightness of the sun or the moon. But there are times when the darkness of the night is thickened by the dark, foreboding overcast of storm clouds. Also, we can be locked up in a dungeon deep underground where no light of the sun or the moon can reach. Even there, we can see light if we have a lamp. Often, the darkness of misery we experience is deep in the private dungeon of isolation and aloneness. It is not that there is no light out there in the open. But we can be cut off from it in the prison of our warped minds.

Isn’t it wonderful, then, that God is our lamp? As our lamp, He can shine His light even when the dark clouds cover the moon and the stars, even in the deep, secret, private dungeon of our misery. The light may not be so bright. But there are times when the bright noonday sun is too much for our eyes; the glimmering light of a lamp is exactly what we need to see and eventually come out into the brightness of the day.

Are you suffering? Do you find yourself in the darkness of pain and sorrow even though the New Year is upon you? Turn to Christ who is your lamp. He took your place in the darkest and most God-forsaken place in all of creation so that you might come into the presence of God and remain in His light forever.