It's getting lighter earlier in the morning and lingering longer in the evening. Spring is so very welcome. Yet the days are, in another sense, darker. Shrouded in anxiety and incomprehension, the future uncertain and unyielding; we can say very little that has a settled certainty.
Psalm 36 was written in desperately dark times. The author is in a society where "there is no fear of God before their eyes". Everything was bleak; there were no signs of hope. Nothing could pierce the unrelenting gloom.
And then the sun rises: "Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies." All is not lost; life has a security, an anchor for hope. The righteousness and justice of God have not failed. There is refuge in the shadow of his wings, a feasting on his abundance, a drinking in of his delights.
And visibility and clarity are unexpectedly experienced, the darkness dispelled: "In your light we see light".
The light of God's character and ways provide illumination for his people. He is the source of all light, of all truth and goodness. In the book of Revelation, John sees that the new Jerusalem has no need of the light of sun or moon because "the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp". Pure, uncreated and unmediated light. Light that banishes darkness, overcoming it through the cross. Light that is not susceptible to any dimming. Light that is clearer than the purest air. Light that sings as it shines.
The psalmist doesn't simply say that we see other things by the light of God. He says, "in your light we see light". We see truth and goodness, we experience the reality that "with you is the fountain of life". We come to know and understand what light really is. That God is light and in him is no darkness at all. That light is of his very essence.
Psalm 119:130 will later add that "the unfolding of your words gives light". Like a flower blossoming and releasing its intoxicating sweetness, the Lord's words have captivating and rejuvenating power, giving direction and hope even in the darkest of days, illuminating our inmost being with the true light of God, even making us to be "light in the Lord" (Eph 5:8). Which means we do well, as Peter says, "to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning sun rises in our hearts" (2 Peter 1:19).
That day will dawn. That sun shall rise. Hallelujah!
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Eternal Light! Eternal Light!
How pure the soul must be,
When, placed within Thy searching sight,
It shrinks not, but with calm delight
Can live and look on Thee.
The spirits that surround Thy throne
May bear the burning bliss;
But that is surely theirs alone,
Since they have never, never known
A fallen world like this.
O how shall I, whose native sphere
Is dark, whose mind is dim,
Before the Ineffable appear,
And on my naked spirit bear
The uncreated beam?
There is a way for man to rise
To that sublime abode:
An offering and a sacrifice,
A Holy Spirit’s energies,
An Advocate with God.
These, these prepare us for the sight
Of holiness above;
The sons of ignorance and night
Can dwell in the eternal Light,
Through the eternal Love.
(Thomas Binney, 1798-1874)
