September 23, 2017
Worship: Thy Word by Amy Grant/Michael W. Smith
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
When I feel afraid,
Think I've lost my way,
Still, you're there right beside me.
And nothing will I fear
As long as you are near.
Please be near me to the end.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
I will not forget
Your love for me and yet
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus be my guide,
And hold me to your side,
I will love you to the end.
Nothing will I fear as long as you are near.
Please be near me to the end.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,
And a light unto my path.
You're the light unto my path.
Songwriters: Amy Grant / Amy Grant Gill / Michael W. Smith / Michael Whitaker Smith
Thy Word lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Capitol Christian Music Group
Video: https://youtu.be/npWJZwgmKMo
Or
Witness:
I purposively chose this song to enter into my quiet time. It starts with a quote from Psalm 119:105. I was mulling over what I had written about Psalm 27:1 and the word “light.” I have also been listening to a conference called Martin Luther 2017. It is a Ligonier Conference, and I highly recommend that you download the Ligonier app on your phone or go to https://www.ligonier.org/account/login/, and create an account. There is much rich material there, and the conferences are just a part of it. After some thought and listening to the various speakers at the conference, it dawned on me that a crucial aspect had been left out. In focusing on David, I was ignoring the larger picture from Scripture. Yes, I had made the point that God was light and the foundation and source of David’s reference to light. I discussed the various ways that he used the word “light” in his poetry. Yet I left out two important aspects in the discussion of this term. These two points are found in the worship song today. The missing aspects are Jesus and God’s word. Actually, these two are inextricably bound together. Jesus is the Word (John 1:1-14, Hebrews 1:1-4) who created all things and holds together the universe by His word. And in Hebrews, we understand by faith that God spoke the universe into existence by His word. In the great High Priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus says we are sanctified by the truth which is God’s word (verse 17). Jesus declares in John 14:6 that He is the truth. Truth and light are often joined together in Scripture. As I did a word search for light and truth, I found this rich source of passages where these two are found together.
Ps 43:3Send forth your light and your truth,let them guide me;let them bring me to your holy mountain,to the place where you dwell.
NIV
John 3:19-21This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
NIV
Eph 5:8-10 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)
NIV
Scripture also says this of our Lord:
John 1:6-9 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
NIV John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
NIV
Putting it all together we see that God is light, and so is Jesus. God’s word is light, and so is Jesus. God’s word is truth, and so is Jesus. John ties these truths together in his first epistle.
1 John 1:5-75 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 cleanses us from all sin.ESV1 John 2:1-11My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.The New Commandment7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.ESV
Walking in God’s light sanctifies and keeps us from stumbling (1 John 1:7; 2:5,10). The fruit of walking in the light is fellowship and forgiveness (1:7). To walk in the light is to walk as Christ did (2:6). To walk as our Lord did is exemplified when we love our brother (2:9-11).
So when David says, “God is my light.” We can not only see it from David’s perspective, but also from that found in the New Testament in the life of our Savior and His words.
https://nancyaruegg.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/psalm-89-15-161.jpg
WORD:
Ps 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation —
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life —
of whom shall I be afraid?
NIV
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Ps 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation—
so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble?
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
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Ps 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
KJV
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Ps 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
ESV
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Because I spent so much time on the Witness, I will only make a few brief comments concerning the word “salvation” in this portion of my journal. When I think of salvation my thoughts immediately jump to the cross and forgiveness of sin and eternal life. However, that is not what was in David’s mind when he said that the Lord is his “salvation.” The word used here is y¹ša±. In the Old Testament, and especially in the earlier periods, the term spoke of deliverance, especially from one’s enemies, sickness, or circumstances. The TWOT article on this word sums up this fact. Notice the fact that the general use of this term in the OT was God-centered.
y¹ša± and its derivatives are used 353 times. The root meaning in Arabic is "make wide" or "make sufficient'; this root is in contrast to sarar "narrow," which means "be restricted" or "cause distress." That which is wide connotes freedom from distress and the ability to pursue one's own objectives. To move from distress to safety requires deliverance. Generally, the deliverance must come from somewhere outside the party oppressed. In the OT the kinds of distress, both national and individual, include enemies, natural catastrophes, such as plague or famine, and sickness. The one who brings deliverance is known as the "savior." The word may be used, however, in everyday life free of theological overtones; e.g., at a well, Moses saved the daughters of Reuel from being driven off by the shepherds (Ex 2:17). But generally in the OT, the word has strong religious meaning, for it was Yahweh who wrought the deliverance. Thus he is known as the "God of our salvation" (Ps 68:20 ff.*). Although salvation could come through a human agent, it was only because God empowered the agent. In the NT the idea of salvation primarily means forgiveness of sin, deliverance from its power and defeat of Satan. Although the OT begins to point in this direction, the majority of references to salvation speak of Yahweh granting deliverance from real enemies and out of real catastrophe.
(from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)
If I were to change anything in this quote, it would be the last sentence. One wished the author of the article stepped back and read what they had just written. If they had, they might not have used the word “real,” for sin and satan (sorry, I won’t capitalize his name) are real enemies, and bring real catastrophes into the world.
However, while the concept of salvation does take on its fuller soteriological significance until the NT, it is not completely devoid in the OT. Ezekiel prophesies of the day when the nation of Israel will be gathered again as an undivided nation. The LORD speaking through the prophet says:
Ezek 37:23They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
NIV
And perhaps the guilt David felt over his disastrous affair with Bathsheba and the ensuing deception and murder that followed caused David to use this word in a way that is more in line with the NT concept of salvation of forgiveness of sin in Psalm 51.
Ps 51:1-12
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
NIV
I said a brief word about salvation, but sometimes I can’t help myself.
