Psalm 18:28 You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
Some of the psalms are quite lengthy meditations. Psalm 18 is the first of these. It comes after a series of psalms talking about struggles with enemies. The heading tells us it is for singing in the Temple (For the director of music) and Of David the servant of the LORD. It also gives the original context - He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. That very statement gave hope that God's anointed would be delivered as he was and today gives hope that all God's servants will be delivered in due time. These themes are reflected in the psalm which is very messianic, speaking about Christ's righteousness and resurrection very clearly. There are many verses to meditate on. If we simply focus on verse 28 we see two things at least. First, God is the Sustainer of his anointed ones. You, LORD, keep my lamp burning. The reference is very ordinary in one sense, as when a lamp is lit no-one wants it to go out of its own accord. Further, in the Temple great care was taken that the lamps should never go out. Using that picture, David declares that the LORD has sustained him through all his troubles as he would Messiah and as he does all faithful servants. Altering the picture, secondly, David speaks of the LORD's power to transform situations. Looked at from another perspective, David has known much darkness and it is God who has turned that very dark period of his life into the light that followed. We can think even of Christ's sojourn on earth as darkness compared with the burning light of his subsequent resurrection and ascension. We too know times of relative darkness. It is God who transforms such times so that we virtually live again by his power.
Some of the psalms are quite lengthy meditations. Psalm 18 is the first of these. It comes after a series of psalms talking about struggles with enemies. The heading tells us it is for singing in the Temple (For the director of music) and Of David the servant of the LORD. It also gives the original context - He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. That very statement gave hope that God's anointed would be delivered as he was and today gives hope that all God's servants will be delivered in due time. These themes are reflected in the psalm which is very messianic, speaking about Christ's righteousness and resurrection very clearly. There are many verses to meditate on. If we simply focus on verse 28 we see two things at least. First, God is the Sustainer of his anointed ones. You, LORD, keep my lamp burning. The reference is very ordinary in one sense, as when a lamp is lit no-one wants it to go out of its own accord. Further, in the Temple great care was taken that the lamps should never go out. Using that picture, David declares that the LORD has sustained him through all his troubles as he would Messiah and as he does all faithful servants. Altering the picture, secondly, David speaks of the LORD's power to transform situations. Looked at from another perspective, David has known much darkness and it is God who has turned that very dark period of his life into the light that followed. We can think even of Christ's sojourn on earth as darkness compared with the burning light of his subsequent resurrection and ascension. We too know times of relative darkness. It is God who transforms such times so that we virtually live again by his power.
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