August 22

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, and to the place where You dwell. — Ps 43:3 BSB

“O send out Your light.” The psalmist’s desire is not simply for the knowledge that God is light, but for the communication of that light into his soul. A soul walking in darkness, yet yearning for light, is not satisfied just by knowing that God is light. It is like a thirsty man who is not satisfied with knowing that there is water in the well; he needs that water to quench his thirst. Similarly, a person who has lost their way in a dark cave does not take comfort in knowing that there is light in the sun outside—what he needs is even a faint ray of light breaking through to guide him. So it is with the believer who is in darkness: he cannot rest in the mere knowledge that “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” His heart cries out for that light to be sent from God into his soul. He desires that this light would flood his heart, illuminating the truth of God, revealing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and showing him that his name is written in the Book of Life. He yearns to know his saving interest in the everlasting covenant, to see Jesus, and in seeing Jesus, to enjoy sweet communion with Him, so that the presence and glory of Christ may be made manifest in his soul.

But David doesn’t stop with light; he also prays for truth: “O send out Your light and Your truth.” What truth is he seeking to know and experience? The same truth that saints today long for: “the truth as it is in Jesus.” This is the truth of His blood atoning for sin, His righteousness justifying us from everything that the law could not justify. It is the truth of personal and eternal deliverance from all curse and condemnation, the truth that makes the soul free, just as Jesus promised: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” This is the truth that turns our affections away from the fleeting things of time and sense, fixing them instead on the realities of eternity. In a word, it is knowing Jesus Himself by His sweet revelation, for He is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and it is only by knowing and enjoying Him that we can truly possess the sum and substance of all truth.