The Light of the Lord Shines in the Darkness

Psalm 18:28 (in the Amplified Bible*) says: “For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine; The Lord my God illumines my darkness.”

"The Lord my God illumines my darkness" with image of two red lamps shining at night under the eave of a cabin

I love how the Amplified Bible expands on this verse because it expresses how the Lord enriches our lives with light in a couple of ways.

First, “You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine…”

Next, “The Lord my God illumines my darkness.”

Let’s take those one at a time:

“You cause my lamp to be lighted”

While the psalmist wrote this hundreds of years before Jesus lived and ministered on the earth, my first thought when reading it is that Jesus is the One who causes my lamp—our lamps—to be lighted.

Matthew 5:14 says, “You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

Phillipians 2:14-15: “Do everything without murmuring or questioning [the providence of God],so that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish in the midst of a [morally] crooked and [spiritually] perverted generation, among whom you are seen as bright lights [beacons shining out clearly] in the world [of darkness]…”

(There’s much more to that passage before and after as well.)

pattern of light from a solar light on the snow at night — *The light pattern of a solar light on fresh snow—so is our light unique to others*

You and I—all who follow Jesus—are His light in the world. In our families, our communities, among our friends and co-workers.

And He is the one who causes our lamps to glow. Who provides that light as we stay plugged into Him.

He’s like the power grid our homes are connected to. The lamp in the room doesn’t provide the light, the electrical current does that through the lamp. Then the lamp lights up the room.

So when we’re plugged into Jesus, He provides that light—His light—to shine for those around us.

“You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine…”

“The Lord God illumines my darkness”

John 8:12 says: “Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

a string of lights illuminates a wooden trail through the snow — *A string of lights illuminates a wooded trail*

And John 12:46 says: “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes and trusts in Me [as Savior—all those who anchor their hope in Me and rely on the truth of My message] will not continue to live in darkness.”

It was King David who wrote Psalm 18. He knew the Lord well, and knew first-hand how the Lord illumined his darkness, especially in those years when he was running for his life.

It’s that same Lord who put on flesh centuries later to tell those living in Israel then: “He who follows me will not walk in darkness.”

Even though the darkness is real, His light illumines it. His light pushes back the darkness so we can see our way.

Massive Lights in Nature

We can see many examples of light in nature that illumines the darkness of night.

The most obvious is the biggest light of all (at least from our vantage point)—the sun.

The sun rises to push back darkness every morning. Its light is so immense and far-reaching that nighttime turns to daylight—even from 93 million miles away.

The moon is the second largest natural light we see all the time. And yet it isn’t really light, it just reflects the light of the sun.

*A harvest moon shines brightly in the dark night*

(Kind of like how we merely reflect the light of Jesus. Another way to think about the way He causes our lamps to be lighted.)

But when it’s full, the sky is clear and the night is dark (no city lights to compete with it), we can walk around without any other manmade light. It’s that bright.

I especially love this when we’re up in the northwoods in the winter. A few feet of snow covers the ground and on nights with a full moon it’s almost like walking around in the daytime. So cool!

The Creator made “the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night” (Genesis 1:16). They’re a wonderful picture of the way He offers us His light in our darkness.

Smaller Light in Nature

One of the most obvious smaller natural lights is fire, be it a candle or a campfire. Though, of course, not nearly as bright as the sun and moon, fire is still bright enough to see by.

When we’re sitting around a campfire, we can see the faces of our family and friends. For most of human history, fire was the only source of light for peoples’ homes in the form of candles, lamps and fireplaces.

close up of a campfire at night — *The light from a campfire is comforting and peaceful*

So when we read in Psalm 18 that “the Lord my God illumines my darkness” we know exactly what that means. We can totally relate.

He provides the light we need to live by.

Why This Is Encouraging

This is encouraging because we know by experience that light always pushes back darkness.

Even one candle can shine a pretty big light when you bring it into a dark room. A headlamp, small as it is, can light your way in the wilderness at night without a problem.

Like that, in our spiritual and emotional lives the Lord can shine His light into the darkness of depression or grief or confusion. His light shines into the darkness of evil and corruption.

One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible is John 1:4-5:

“Eternal life is in him [Jesus], and this life gives light to all mankind. His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.“ (TLB**)

fairy lights illuminate blocks that spell "PEACE" sitting on a shelf — *Fairy lights at Christmastime illuminate one of Jesus’ most life-changing messages*

*The Amplified Bible is published by the Lockman Foundation.

Sharon Brodin

Sharon is the principal author and publisher of the "Heaven and Nature Sing" devotional book and founder of this website. She loves how God created such an amazing world and is continually in awe of His goodness, wisdom and creativity.