Light and my salvation...

 It was with some trepidation that I saw the theme of the talks as ‘My life, my faith’. It’s for talks like that that I wish sometimes that I had a dramatic testimony to offer – a life of crime or addiction turned around miraculously or at least some sort of dramatic conversion – but none of that is me.

Actually I think I have always believed in the God I celebrate as a Christian… It does not mean that my journey of faith has always been easy and it certainly doesn’t mean that I have been anywhere near being the perfect Christian if such a person exists at all this side of heaven.

Recently I was asked what my favourite verse from the bible is – and after thinking for a time I have to say, I’m not really sure. I think different verses appeal to me at different times, but if I had to choose one it would probably be the opening words of Psalm 27 – ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid.’

The opening line of that psalm, although it perhaps makes me sound a little too pious, is one that I have always trusted, and always sought to live by. Psalm 27 is not the best known of the psalms, but it is one that I think expresses our need to give thanks to God for things which sometimes we can’t really even express properly in words.

As David writes that first line, we get the sense of him being threatened by some sort of evil. He seems to be writing almost as someone in need of reassuring himself or reminding himself of the power of God, and the fact that God, in whatever circumstances is going to look after him.

The Lord is my light expresses hope within a dark and troubled place. The sort of place where we have all been to a greater or lesser extent in our own lives. The place where there really doesn’t seem to be much going right. It may be the loss of a job, a big family argument, a death of someone close, or a serious illness. For others it may be the misery of being caught up in poverty or in war.

Often in the Bible we find the image of light and dark representing good and evil being used, and it’s the sort of image that we can easily pick up on simply because it is a feeling that we know. All of us will be able to think of times of darkness, as I mentioned earlier, but all of us will hopefully be able to think of many times where we feel blessed – many times of joy and hope, many times of peace…

And this psalm reminds us that, in whatever state of mind we may be, our hope is in God. He is the light shining in the middle of any darkness that may come about in our lives. He is the one to whom we can turn in any situation. He is also the one we can thank and praise in times of celebration and joy.

We often think of Jesus as being the Bread of Life, and we recognise in those words the need to rely on him as our most important diet of each day. He is the bread of life, he is life itself – he is the light shining in the darkness of our world.

And David goes on to say that the Lord is my salvation. Many people say that we should not celebrate salvation, simply because none of us actually know whether we will be saved in the end… It is down to the judgement of God to save of course, but I think that not to celebrate salvation is to ignore the normal behaviour of God. He is merciful, he is just, he loves us and has sent his Son to die for us, promising that if we believe in him we will have eternal life… We can never judge each other, but we must make a decision on where we stand with God, and if we decide for him, he will keep his promise, I have no doubt, of leading us to salvation.

The psalm goes on, The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom then shall I be afraid? Faced with whatever danger David was facing he knew that he could only turn to God. There were no earthly armies that could provide the kind of freedom and strength that God could provide. Though we will inevitably face many challenges in our lives, we have the support, the power and the strength of a God who is immeasurably more powerful than anyone or anything we can ever imagine !

With God on our side, we have no enemies that can defeat us !

And so in this first verse, David is reminding himself of what God means to him, and from time to time, I think it’s good for all of us to just sit down and reflect on what God means to us. When was the last time we seriously put aside any sort of time at all for God outside of coming to Church ? So often we take him for granted, trusting him to be there whenever we need him, and he always is, but as we dedicate a bit more time to him, we become even more confident in his love, and grow ever closer to him.

As David realises this, a little later in the Psalm he writes of his desire to spend more time with the Lord, and this is the second verse I want to think about. He writes, ‘one thing have I desired of the Lord, one thing that I long for, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.’ In doing that he is offering a plea to God to take him away from the trials and tribulations of life into a presence greater than our understanding. It’s a natural thought as we look for the promised life of no mourning, no pain or tears, but it’s not the life we are called to live yet.

As David knows as he writes this psalm life will throw complications at us. In this psalm he is preparing to face complications by firstly reminding himself of the power of God that is with him. God equips us to live in this world to serve him, and others. He equips us to get our hands dirty as we share a message of love and peace, and fight for justice and righteousness, and these are not just empty words.

As I was writing this I thought of how often we use words like that in Church, but don’t actually work out what they really mean for us. Love means love – it means a commitment of devotion and care for people, whoever they are and whatever they have done. Peace is something so desperately needed in the world today – not just an end to the various conflicts going on, but the sort of peace in a person’s heart which gives them a real reason for living.

We are called to share that peace, the peace of God, through our words and through our actions. And what about justice and righteousness – even today, even in this country many people are suffering unjustly, many people are failing to get the right benefits, or get the right treatment in courts, and many are fighting for those things for themselves and for others…. Jesus, I think, wants us to be part of that fight. He wants his people to have a voice.

So words such as love, peace, justice, righteousness and many others are words which must lead us beyond the spoken word into action. As David reassured himself of the support and protection of God, we can do the same as we go out to serve him in whatever way we are called.

And that is what this Psalm is about – being ready, being determined and being given the ability to serve for the glory of God and for the extension of his kingdom. David offers these words almost as a prayer for God to be with him in whatever circumstances, and these are words that we too can repeat, and assure ourselves of as we leave this Church and go out into the world ready to make a difference for Jesus.

And so, I’ve thought quite a lot about the psalm but perhaps not much about my life, my faith. There are many things and times and experiences which have shaped my faith and my life, but I want to mention 3 things that perhaps woke me up to the reality of faith.

As I said earlier I think I have always believed, but at times I hadn’t even attempted to try and live as God wants me to live. I simply hadn’t taken him into consideration. 3 things have helped to make me take faith more seriously – and all really occurred in my teenage years – not so long ago !

The first was reading the book ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’. It tells of a preacher leaving a small rural church to go and work amongst the gangs of New York in the late 1950’s, early 60’s. The story of the incredible commitment of David Wilkerson, the preacher, and the incredible transformation in the life of many of the gang members, but one in particular, a man named Nicky Cruz, was transforming for me.

We don’t worship a soft God, a God who lives in a bright peaceful cloud. We worship and enjoy a relationship with a God who is involved in the world, its good parts and its bad… We worship and praise a God who loves us all, whoever we are and whatever we may have done or failed to do.

The second experience was on a youth camp – while I was there one of my friends, whose parents were leaders on the camp heard that his grandmother had died. It was a sad time certainly but what I saw was a family praising God for the fact that she was now completely safe and at peace with Jesus. The fact of there being a heaven, a place of glorious peace, was one I’d never doubted, but now I saw it and what it meant…

Death, for those who mourn, is a painful experience, but it is also, for a Christian, the fulfilment of the promises we are given – the time when we can confidently go forward into the closer presence of God… It doesn’t mean we won’t miss someone we love, but it does mean we can trust they are at peace…

And the third experience is a Billy Graham Crusade in Bristol in 1984. I went along for a good night out – a trip on a minibus with some girls always sounded good ! And I had a good night out as I was reminded of the need not just to believe but to enjoy a relationship with Christ.

Just believing means we miss out on so much – living in a relationship allows us to put everything before God – a God who loves us and wants the best for us. A God who offers us the gift of freewill but hopes to guide us along the right paths, in the right directions. That is the God who steps into our life and surrounds us with his love and protection always.  

I’ll end with the final verse of Psalm 27 which says, ‘Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage : and put your trust in the Lord.’ AMEN