Psalm 43:3 Send me your light and your faithful care,
   let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
   to the place where you dwell.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
   to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.

Reflection: Jesus is the light of the world, and He can guide me if I choose to connect with Him through the Holy Spirit. The best days we can have, are the days when we surrender ourselves for Jesus to lead us. He is a divine being and He knows the best way to lead us daily and how this day fits in the overall plan He has for our lives. Surrendering to His guidance is so anti-our self-seeking nature, and yet in my experience those are the days which were the best in my life. I had extraordinary peace and joy because I followed what Christ wanted from me. In a way, we are all on some kind of pilgrimage, we are heading towards that Holy Mountain of God that He has for us. Inwardly, for me that is finding delight in this saving relationship with Jesus Christ while being active in accomplishing His plans daily in a way that gives Him glory, that puts a smile on His face. Such life gives worship to God, and that is what I believe we are made for. Praising God, worshiping God is the highest form of existence for anyone who recognizes and follows God.

Prayer: Lord I was blessed to walk with You and to know You personally. You are not just God, but You are my God. I have had hundreds if not thousands of experiences with You throughout my life, and I have plenty of reasons to praise You and to worship You privately and corporately. Amen

Commentary: Both verses beg expansion, but verse 3 can be made clearer so I am choosing this verse to expand upon:

John 8:12 Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Commentary: To walk in the darkness of the world is to follow our own self-seeking ways day after day.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

1 John 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Reflection: I believe this totally and have experienced it.

John 1:4-5 In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. / The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:9 The true Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

Commentary: Jesus Christ is the true light, and Satan and our self-seeking ways are the fake lights, however, those fake lights might be close to the true light of Christ.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Commentary: When we follow the light of Christ through the Holy Spirit, our life Coach, we are the chosen people, a royal priesthood invited to build His kingdom for His glory and our joy and life fulfilment.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

Commentary: This text does not state that we were once in darkness but that we were darkness. When we hear of the Light, and we let Him in, day after day He expands in us and pushes out the darkness of self-seeking out of us.

Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Commentary: We are the light of the world as long as we remain on the vine and produce fruits that put a smile on God’s face. Such life gives worship to God, who made us.

Isaiah 60:19-20 No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor. / Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not wane; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will cease.

Isaiah 42:6 “I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations,

Isaiah 49:6 He says: “It is not enough for You to be My Servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the protected ones of Israel. I will also make You a light for the nations, to bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 2:5 Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Isaiah 58:8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Commentary: God, who is the light, wants us to be the light to the hopeless world we live in. When we offer Christ Jesus to someone the way the Holy Spirit guides us, we offer hope, purpose, direction, meaning beyond the material world. The peace and joy we experience when we follow Jesus is amazing.

Prayer: Thank you Jesus for the life You have gifted me and an invitation to follow You today and to find purpose in You today. Amen

Peter Caran

Pastor of Cobourg and Harmony Churches