Truth for Life - June 16, 2016
June 16
Light in Our Darkness
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? - Psalms 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation." Here is personal interest: "my light," "my salvation"; the soul is assured of it, and therefore declares it boldly. Into the soul at the new birth, divine light is poured as the forerunner of salvation; where there is not enough light to reveal our own darkness and to make us long for the Lord Jesus, there is no evidence of salvation.
After conversion our God is our joy, comfort, guide, teacher, and in every sense our light: He is light within us, light around us, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us. Note, it does not just say that the Lord gives light, but that He is light; nor that He gives salvation, but that He is salvation; so, then, whoever by faith has laid hold upon God has all the covenant blessings in their possession. Once this fact is assured, the deduction from it is put in the form of a question, "Whom shall I fear?" A question that is its own answer. The powers of darkness are not to be feared, for the Lord, our light, destroys them; and we need not dread the damnation of hell, for the Lord is our salvation.
This is a very different challenge from that of boastful Goliath, for it rests not upon the conceited vigor of human strength, but upon the real power of the omnipotent I AM. "The LORD is the stronghold of my life." Here is a third glowing quality showing that the writer's hope was fastened with a threefold cord that could not be broken. It is no surprise that we accumulate terms of praise where the Lord lavishes deeds of grace.
Our life derives all its strength from God; and if He deigns to make us strong, we cannot be weakened by all the cunning movements of our adversary. "Whom shall I fear?" The bold question looks into the future as well as the present. "If God is for us, who can be against us,"1 either now or in time to come?
1 Romans 8:31
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Isaiah 48
verse 2 Revelation 18
Held in Honor
Held in Honor is a rich collection of 50 insightful quotes on marriage, carefully selected from church history dating all the way back to the first century. Each quote is accompanied by a Scripture-based devotional designed to encourage married couples or couples contemplating marriage.
The historical quotations in Held in Honor provide a collection of wisdom from the ages. Although the union of a man and woman my look different in any given time or place, there are common challenges that transcend culture, age, ethnicity, and context. This devotional invites couples to the common experience by drawing upon wisdom from the past.
Held in Honor brings together voices from Ignatius of Antioch to Elisabeth Elliott to Charles Spurgeon. Regardless of where couples are in the journey of marriage, these insights from the past are designed to draw couples closer to God and to remind couples of the roles God intended for both husbands and wives. (Available in soft cover or as an e-book)
Click here to learn more about Truth For Life
From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
