The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

Psalm 27:1

I have been blessed with the opportunity to contribute some devotions to a wonderful new devotional app, “Good Ground.” You can learn more about the app in this post or on their website. Here is my devotion that was shared December 13th:

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There is nothing quite so unsettling as finding ourselves in complete darkness. Our minds begin to play tricks on us. Our imagination runs wild. We walk carefully, bumping into unknown objects, desperate to find a flashlight or candle (or these days, our phone) that will bring a little light to us. And when we find that light? The relief is undeniable. 

Every year our Advent season invites us to ponder the darkness as we wait for the light. We are invited to see in these dark days of Advent a metaphor for life. Our world can be a dark and scary place, and we all long for something to enlighten the darkness. The poet Ann Weems writes that “the whole world waits in December darkness for a glimpse of the light of God.” Yes! Whether the world knows it or not, the light that it waits for comes from only one place: God. The God who first brought creation into being by saying, “Let there be light,” continues to offer healing and hope by sending us light. For the next four days, we will look at four different ways that God’s light brings healing and hope to us. Today, I invite you to consider how God’s light casts out fear. 

Do you remember the words of Psalm 27? “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” These simple words teach us that the most important light, the light that is able to cast out all our fear, is the light of God. The Bible teaches us over and over again not to be afraid, for God is with us. And “if God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31) Jesus tells us that he is the “light of the world” (John 8:12). He is the light that no darkness can overcome (John 1:5). He is the light that casts out our fear. Why? Because he is always with us. Jesus is our good shepherd, who walks with us through the darkest of valleys, and if he is with us, we need not fear. When we live in his shadow, Psalm 91 reminds us, we “will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day” (Psalm 91:5). We need not be afraid anymore, no matter where life takes us. “For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). 

So, the next time you find yourself in a dark and scary place, let God’s light shine in your heart, and let this divine light cast out your fear. Jesus is the light that we all long for, and the only light that we ever need. 

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You can read all of Ann Weems’ poem, “In December Darkness,” here: A Glimpse of the Light of God.