Light and Truth

Psa 43:3  O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

"O send out thy light." The Psalmist desired that light might be sent out, that
is, that there might be an appearing, an arising of it in some tangible, soul-felt way. The soul, lost in darkness,
and crying out after light, is not satisfied
with a simple conviction, however deep, that with God is light. The thirsty man, parched for water, is
not allayed by knowing that there is water in the well; nor is the miner who
has been trapped in a cave-in, content with knowing that there is light above. One
faint ray of light gleaming through a small crack in the rocks will be worth more to him than a thousand suns,
unseen by him, blazing away, high in the sky.

And thus the struggling lamb will not rest, can not rest,
in the bare knowledge that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all,"
but his sigh and cry is that this light may be sent out of the fullness of
God into his soul, so as to shed abroad His glorious inward light in his heart,
whereby he may see the truth of God; whereby he may see the glory of God, whereby he can see the full love of God
in the sacrifice of His Holy Lamb; and know that his name is written in the book
of life. That he may see  his own eternal union with Jesus, and in seeing his own eternal union with the risen Lord,
he might enjoy communion with Him, and know presence of Almighty God in his soul,
to have His glory revealed, and made manifest in his heart.

This was the cry of David's heart that night, as he sought the face of God. He wasn't
looking for help or sympathy from men or their traditions. He needed, as we all do,
that which only God could provide: Light and Truth.

It is a picture of a tempest-tossed soul. Sun and stars beclouded, compass
lost, chart useless, pilot absent, and breakers ahead. Lost in a storm of guilt,
despondency, gloomy forebodings or dismal, dreary apprehensions.

How many of us can see ourselves here? Driven from our course;  sun and stars all obscured; no clear
evidences, no bright manifestations; darkness above, and a raging sea
beneath; no harbor in sight, and hope of reaching home, fading fast. I think this describes
everyone that I know of, at one time or another.

Yet David knew in His heart where to find the light, as do all lambs.
You find the Light in the Truth.

He says, "O send out thy light and
thy truth." What was "the truth" which he sought to know? The truth of Messiah; the truth of His
sacrifice; the truth of His justifying blood, the truth of His righteousness;
the truth of deliverance from the curse and condemnation of men, that
truth whereby the soul is set free, according to the words, "Ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free;" the truth whereby the
affections of the soul are separated, and set free from the things of time and sense, and fixed on the
realities of eternity; in a word, to know the Truth, Himself, and to discover the Light, in Him
who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

It is clear from his words, that David could not be
comforted by any other than God. This is the witness, my friends,
of the work of God's grace upon his soul. When a man
is so distressed in his feelings, so cast down in his mind, and so troubled in his
conscience, that none but God can comfort him, he is at once on the
footsteps of the Spirit. We do not find hypocrites on this ground.  Zion's special mark is that she,
His beloved, can not be comforted by any other than her Lord, her wounds are too deep for human balms, her
sickness too sore for the medicines of men. Almighty God has reserved her comfort for His
hands alone; from His lips only, can consolation be spoken into her soul.

Through the grace of the Spirit of God, David saw the Truth, and received the Light; much
the same as Job, Abraham, Jacob, or Moses. How can this be? You ask. How could David have seen the Truth and received the Light a thousand years before Messiah would come? Because in the Eternal Realms of God, where time has no presence or meaning, Messiah is the Paschal Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world.
The power of His sacrifice flowed backward, as well as forward across time. How else could Job sing out that
He knew his Redeemer lived and would resurrect him at the last day; how else could Abraham see His
day and be glad therein? You can see from the second part of our verse, that David, as Job and Abraham
before him, knew the Truth, and had seen the Light, in the power of the Spirit of the Living God.

Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. He asks that Truth and Light bring him to the
holy hill of God. In the days before the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, there was no permanent sacred
or holy hill, or place in Israel; he could only be talking about the holy hill of Golgatha, the place of sacrifice,
the holy hill of God, where the Light and the Truth was made manifest in the flesh; slain; and in His resurrection, made available
to all who would seek It. And he asks to be brought into God to celebrate the feast of tabernacles with the rest of God's
redeemed lambs through all eternity.

This was the cry of David's heart, and the longing of his soul as he penned these words. This too is the cry
of our heart, and the longing in our soul as we sail these stormy waters of life, often alone and in distress.
If this is where you are, if you have lost your bearings, or the sight of shore; the same God that came to comfort David
will also bring His refreshment and His renewal to you. Simply follow the path David has laid out for you;
seek the Truth with all that is within you, and you will find the Light; and once we have seen the Light, the journey home is all laid out
for us. We simply need to follow the Light.