MONDAY 15th
Psalm 36
NIV (v9) – ‘For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.’
ESV (v9) – ‘For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.’
One of the first things that came to my mind as I read this verse was one of the lines of the Christmas carol, ‘Hark! the herald angels sing’ which says, ‘Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings . . .’ It is a carol which declares the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth surrounding who he is, Immanuel, God with us. In his gospel, John declares in the first chapter ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ (v1) and then continues ‘In him was life, and the life was the light of men, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ (vv4-5) Returning to our Psalm, David is declaring about the LORD God, that he was the fountain of life, and in his light we see light, John is showing us therefore that when we see Jesus we are seeing God, for John also declares that Jesus is the source of life and that this life is the light of men.
What both David and John are clearly declaring is that all life springs from the eternal God, that is the Triune God, and that when Jesus came into this dark world he came to give both life and light.
On one occasion Jesus said that he was the light of the world, (John) and on another that he was the life (John 14:6), and as such he is the only one sent from God to grant that life as he shines as the light into the hearts of men and women. John says in verse 9 of the first chapter, ‘The true light which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.’ Men and women today are searching for light and for understanding, to bring satisfaction to life, they are searching through so many ways, mysticism, experiences, religious practise, etc. and the fulfilment they are looking for will never be found until they come to the one who is the true light, the Lord Jesus Christ. For as the light he is also the only source for life, life that is abundant and eternal.
We need to stand firm on the declaration of Scripture that ‘there is no other name given under heaven by which man can be saved’ no other name, but the name of Jesus. He alone is the true source of light and life. We need to be pointing people to Jesus.
In the book of Acts, chapter 17, when Paul visited Athens, he had observed all the objects of worship and idols they had erected, and found the one with the inscription ‘To the unknown God’ they had been searching for reality, they had yet to discover the source of the reality they were wanting, the one who was the light and life, and Paul began to instruct them, ‘What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.’ And he shares truth to them, and in verses 28 says, ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’ May we constantly remind ourselves that we are because God has granted us to be, he gave us our physical life and we have become what we are, because he has also granted his light to shine into our hearts and granted us his life which is abundant and eternal.
This verse in Psalm 36 is also another reminder for us of the importance of life, because it comes from God himself, he is the fountain of life, there is no other source, and therefore the only true light that we can receive to help shine the way for us to walk this life can also only come from God. He is our Maker, therefore he knows all about us and therefore he is the most qualified and the only one qualified to show us how to live, and he has revealed this through his word, and through the sending of his only begotten Son. ‘Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings.’