Today's Reading: 1 Chronicles 2 & Psalm 43

Send Out Your Light

In Psalm 43, the Psalmist is going through a period of discouragement and turmoil in his life. Biblical scholars are not certain as to who the author of this Psalm is, nor exactly when it was written. Perhaps that is good for us, as it may help us see that the Psalmist’s prayer applies to our own situation as we, too, go through periods of discouragement and turmoil in our own lives. In this case, the Psalmist seems to be hindered in his ability to go to the “holy hill” and worship at the “altar” of God. This greatly saddened him because it was during times of praise and worship that he had found the greatest joy in his life.

In this moment of distress, the Psalmist cries out for God to come alongside him and to turn his sadness into joy and his mourning into rejoicing. He prays that God would send out His light and His truth. When we are in darkness and distress, this is what we also need - God’s light and God’s truth. The reality is that we don’t need to go to a specific locality to praise and worship our Lord. We simply need Him to come to us wherever we are with His light and His truth. God’s light will illuminate our way back into His holy presence regardless of our situation or location.

The Hebrew word translated “light” here is “‘ôr” and it means, illumination or luminary. This word is often used to refer to the shining presence of God’s face. Oh, what a joy it is when the light of God’s face shines upon us. In the great benediction and blessing found in Numbers 6, we read “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” When God’s face shines upon us our discouragement and turmoil turns into His peace. 

The word translated “truth” here is “eh'-meth” which means firmness, faithfulness, unbendable certainty. When we are in times of distress, what a blessing it is to have something firm and steadfast to fall back on – God’s truth. In John 17:17, Jesus declared that “[The Father’s] word is truth.”  God wants our lives to be built on His truth. Because our beliefs determine our perspective, they impact how we react to criticism, respond to a crisis, and navigate daily life. The goal of the Christian life to conform our thoughts to God’s thoughts. Just ask yourself WWJT? What would Jesus think? What does His word say about you and your distress? Discouragement is a sign that we are not believing God’s truth.  This is why we need to be reading God’s Word under the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Meditating on it. Listening to the Lord’s “still small voice” and receiving a word from the Word.  We must simply pray for God to reveal His truths to us. There is no place for discouragement and turmoil in our lives when God’s word resides in our heart and mind.

O send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your dwelling!