Evening, June 16

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"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?"

  Psalm 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 precursor 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, light around, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed
   to us. Note, it is not said merely that the Lord gives light, but that
   he is light; nor that he gives salvation, but that he is salvation; he,
   then, who by faith has laid hold upon God, has all covenant blessings
   in his possession. This being made sure as a fact, the argument drawn
   from it is put in the form of a question, "Whom shall I fear?" A
   question which is its own answer. The powers of darkness are not to be
   feared, for the Lord, our light, destroys them; and the damnation of
   hell is not to be dreaded by us, for the Lord is our salvation. This is
   a very different challenge from that of boastful Goliath, for it rests,
   not upon the conceited vigour of an arm of flesh, but upon the real
   power of the omnipotent I AM. "The Lord is the strength of my life."
   Here is a third glowing epithet, to show that the writer's hope was
   fastened with a threefold cord which could not be broken. We may well
   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 machinations of the adversary.
   "Of whom shall I be afraid?" The bold question looks into the future as
   well as the present. "If God be for us," who can be against us, either
   now or in time to come?