Psalm 27:1: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; / Whom shall I fear? / The LORD is the strength of my life; / Of whom shall I be afraid?”

February 2nd, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

There are times in our lives when it feels like we live in a world full of darkness. And although much of the world is lost in darkness, there is a light. David claimed that God was his light, his salvation, and his strength for the journey along the path of life. Notice how personal David made it: “my light . . . my salvation . . . the strength of my life.” There are times when we think we don’t have the strength to make it or to go on. David was pointing to the fact that in those times God strengthened him, but even more importantly he was pointing out that God was the constant, main source for everything he did in life. Paul wrote to the Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

The believer is in great danger when he begins to trust in some area of personal strength, like the old story of the stag, who admired his stately antlers as he drank from a pool but felt ashamed of his spindly legs. Suddenly he heard an approaching mountain lion, and his spindly legs propelled him into the safety of the forest, but his stately antlers became caught in the underbrush, and as a result he was soon killed. If we have one area where we think we are strong, then that will be the very area the enemy will bring an attack against. Our full trust must be placed in God alone.

When John Patton was translating the bible for one south-seas island tribe, he discovered that they had no word for trust or faith. One day a native who had been running hard, came into the missionary’s house, flopped down in a large chair, and said a word Patton did not recognize. He asked the native what it meant, and the man said, “It’s good to rest my whole weight on this chair.” “That’s it,” said Patton. He then used that native word to translate the word faith: resting one’s whole weight on God.

“LORD, we want to put our full weight on You this day and not look to anyone else, including our own cleverness.”