Joel M Bradshaw

3Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me…–Psalm 43

If you were sailing under the stars and saw the lighthouse, you would have two great blessings. The first blessing would be light. Light illuminates the darkness. The second blessing would be clarity. You now would know where the rocky coastline was and could pilot accordingly.

Many people pray for illumination. Illumination’s two basic meanings are to bring light and to clarify. Our unnamed psalmist prayed for those two basic things as well. That God would send both his light and his truth to lead him as he journeyed.

The lighthouse provides a great boundary for the sailor. You should not sail towards the lighthouse or risk the rocks. Let the light of the lighthouse guide you, but also heed the boundaries it sets.

The psalmist wanted light and truth from God. But he didn’t just want them in a random way or simply to add them to his experience, but he wanted to be led by them.

I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. And though I know well the layouts of the rooms of my house, I have two young children. My path may have unforeseen toys to trip over or step on. Turning on the light switch is a wise move. Be led by that light through the dark room.

God’s truth guides us, as well. A big boundary for my day is Ephesians 5:25…

25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…

That verse both lights my dark path with a direction and gives me appropriate boundaries as to what God expects of me. It is a lighthouse verse. The light reveals the contents of the room and the Bible clarifies the way in which I am to live my life.

Another verse proclaimed God’s Word as a light for the feet and a lamp for the path (Psalm 119:105) and meant it. We are talking light and truth leading you by God with your Bible open, not closed. Because we are not pursuing subjective experiences to guide us, but objective.

And I like how the psalmist wasn’t pursuing his truth or society’s truth, but God’s. And he submitted to being led by God’s truth. He prayed for his path to have light and for his walk to have the boundaries of truth. And both were to be from God. That is appropriate biblical illumination for your life. In your darkness, be led by God and live your life according to the boundaries of the Bible. Thus you have your lighthouse. Illumination so you can see and clarification so you don’t sail into the rocks.–JMB