God’s Light and Our Light
Pastor Joe Fuiten, July 31, 2005
Scripture
Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and
wicked men. 2 You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I
go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?
3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them
bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then will I go
to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with
the harp, O God, my God. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed
within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my
God.
David is feeling the pressure of opposition. He feels like God could protect him but has only partially done so. He wonders why. Instead of staying in that difficult place, he begins to pray, rehearsing the situation, calling on God, and making commitments to God. In the process he gives us a true sequence of events. First God sends forth light and truth. Second, we are brought to him through that light and truth. Third, when he brings us to himself, we find great joy and delight and worship God. Let’s return to that sequence with a little more detail.
First God sends forth light and truth because he is light and truth. John 1:4-5 speaks of this: “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” John says something similar in his epistles in 1 John 1:5-10 “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”
The writer
of Proverbs 6:23-24 tells us what David is thinking. David is thinking that God is using these
difficulties to bring him around. “For these commands are a lamp, this teaching
is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, 24 keeping
you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.” God’s light is inherently
corrective. It exposes our sins. More than that, it directs us to the place
where God is, to his
Once we are
where God is, we can go to his altar with joy and delight. We don’t have any guilt. We don’t have to hide like Adam and Eve did
after they sinned. When God’s light
guides us to himself, we are able to worship him in Spirit and truth.
I would
like to add a second major Scripture to the 43rd Psalm. It is the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew 5:11-20:
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
The teaching of Jesus is that our light is to do what God has given us to do and to avoid violating his law. Our light is to be a reflection of his light. The love of God, the good work of God, and the truth of God are our mandate in the world. This world is clearly not very big on light and truth.
Why don’t we just take a live and let live attitude? If people have their beliefs, shouldn’t it be up to them. Shouldn’t our job just be to accept them and to live in a tolerant way? David’s view was that God’s correction was good for his life. He wanted to know and do what was right. He didn’t want to pretend he was right, he actually wanted to be right.
We listen to the preaching of the Bible because the thoughts therein are God’s thoughts not just our own. If a position is taken, it needs to accord with God’s light and God’s truth. Vague notions that God loves everyone so we cannot do anything that offends him are foreign to David as they should be to us.