Psalm 27:1

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?

This first verse is pretty well known among Chrisitians.  At least the “whom shall I fear” part anyway.  Chris Tomlin has made it pretty popular with a song of the same name with the subtitle “lord of angel armies”.  

First, let’s not jump past the first segment which has two parts.  “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”  Can you say that?  Is the Lord and the Lord alone your light?  Do you receive your inspiration, the peace of your soul, and your purpose from the Lord alone?  The Lord is to be your “guide, teacher, comfort, and in every sense our light: He is light within us, light around us, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us (Alistair Begg).”  

David would later write in Psalms 119:105, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  The light of the Lord shows us where we are walking now and where we are to be walking.  That’s all the information we need to know.  With that information we can make adjustments and course corrections as necessary to walk where we are to be walking.  Jesus is quoted in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  He is the light.  If we follow Him we will never be in darkness, never.  He is the light of life. 

If we are in the dark, we seek a light so we know where we are to go and won’t stumble.  Do you seek the Lord’s light?  Do you trust in His light for your direction?  Today’s Christian seems to trust a lot in their own wisdom.  I listened to one Methodist pastor say that “we had evolved past Pauline teachings”.  To not believe in what the Word of God says is not to have “the Lord as my light”.  I believe we need to have serious conversations with ourselves and ask whether we completely truly believe in God and trust in God.  If we do we will experience God.  Otherwise, we are following ourselves and we are not a light in a very dark non-lit world.  We will stumble and the world will consume us.

“Note, it does not just say that the Lord gives light, but that He is light; nor that He gives salvation, but that He is salvation (Alistair Begg)”.  John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  “God didn’t so love the world that He saved the world; God so loved the world that He provided a salvation for sinners (J. Vernon McGee).”  That salvation is in a Person.  Peter said in Acts 4:12, “… There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  Is the Lord your salvation?  Salvation is not found in anything or anyone or anywhere else.  You can be the most intelligent person ever created, you can be the best physically looking person ever created, you can be the most cunning person, or you can be the most fill-in-the-blank, and you will not be saved from an eternal separation from the source of all life.  Your salvation must be in the person of Christ Jesus.  It is found in Him and only in Him.  There is no other way. 

David wrote, “the Lord is MY light and MY salvation”.  It was personal to him.  He knew the Lord intimately.  Do you practice a relationship like that with your light and your salvation?  Is the Lord so important that you set aside time every day to focus on His Word and to be in conversation with Him?  Do you walk looking for Him at all times in your day?  How personal is the Lord to your life … really (as Andy Stanley says in the taking  responsibility for your life series)?

“The Lord is the stronghold of my life.”  Other translations say “strength of my life” and “fortress of my life”.  This is the third cord in this rope that builds the confidence to proclaim “whom shall I fear”.  The Lord is my light, my salvation, and He is my strength.  He is the might that protects me.  I do not depend upon myself, I depend upon Him.  God not only gives the light so we can see, provides the salvation so we have life, He gives the strength so we can live. 

“Whom shall I fear?” “Whom shall I be afraid?” John Knox said, “One with God is a majority.”  There is a strength to that way of thinking and most of us do not walk with that kind of confidence.  I wonder if it is because we are not one with God.  We agree with God and we desire salvation, but we do not want to submit our lives to Him.  Billy Graham said, “This then is our problem: to associate with and love those who are involved in the world without being contaminated, influenced, or swayed by them.  This distinction can only be achieved by a close walk with Christ, by constant prayer, and by seeking the Holy Spirit’s leadership every hour of the day.  God has provided us the power to resist the world and be separated from it, and it is ours to appropriate that power every hour of our lives.” 

It is very difficult for us to walk in confidence, believing and trusting in the Lord for everything when we do not seek oneness with Him, purposely reserving portions of our lives for own.  Whatever portion you keep for yourself to rule over, it is that portion that will eventually corrupt your heart.  Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matthew 6:24).”  We must seek to be one with the Lord.

Another man (Cromwell) was asked why he did not fear anyone, he said “I have learned that if you fear God, you have no one else to fear.”  We have only one Lord.  We are to walk in His precepts.  We are to submit to his commands.  Jesus is quoted in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”  If there is a portion in your life where you either disagree with God’s Word or you just don’t want to let God in on it, you are not loving God with your whole heart. 

Jesus said the first commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30).”  If we want to walk in the confidence of having nothing to fear, we must love our Lord in every way we can, with everything we are, and at all times.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 11:12-13, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.  Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning.”  Here we are taught that the Lord is to be our light, our salvation, and our strength.  Is He all of these to you today?  Solomon reflects that it would be better to be a pour youth than to be our wealthier older selves who are too foolish to listen to God’s Word anymore and hear the warnings the Spirit puts in our hearts.