“O Lord, you are my lamp. The Lord lights up my darkness” (II Samuel 22:29, NLT). I love all the scriptures that talk about God as a “lamp” or “light.”
But before we look into any of those, note the ownership in David’s two sentences: “my lamp.” David claimed God as his own.
Then David says “my darkness.” David knew that nothing dark in his life could be of God, whether it came from David’s own doing or elsewhere. David understood the truth of First John 1:5b:“God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all.”
So if “God is light” and we’re His children, how is it we find ourselves so often surrounded by darkness? Because we don’t avail ourselves of the Light.
I’ve used this example before, but it bears repeating. You’re in the woods and it’s pitch black. In your hand is a flashlight. You can wander all over the place carrying that flashlight, but unless you turn it on, it’s not going to do you one ounce of good.
Every born-again believer in Jesus Christ has the indwelling Holy Spirit. But having Him and availing yourself of His power are two different animals. James 4:2b says that, “you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.” While this isn’t a blanket name-it-and-claim-it offer, James is saying that we miss out on a lot of God’s help and blessings simply because we fail to ask. There’s so much more to that passage, but that’s for another day and lesson.
But let’s say you do have your flashlight and you do have it on. Point it out in front of you and guess what? You still can’t see your way out of the woods. All you can see is a few steps ahead. Which is my whole point: We are often surrounded by darkness even though we have the light. But as we take each tiny little step of faith, the light illuminates a little bit more of the pathway. And then a little bit more and a little bit more.
See, we don’t have to know the entire plan to start walking. We just need to trust Him enough to take the first step. And then the second one. And the third one. And the more we walk in faith, the more we see and the more we trust. Pretty soon, our fear is replaced by confidence in the One who is leading, and our timidly begun journey becomes a boldly advancing adventure.
Boldly. Advancing. Adventurous. That’s how David saw God working in his life. That’s I hope you and I see God working in ours.
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