What does it mean that "the Lord is my light and my salvation" (Psalm 27:1)?

The psalm begins with a joyous strain of confidence, in which all fear is dismissed as unworthy and impossible. "Jehovah is my light and my salvation: of whom shall I be afraid? Jehovah is the stronghold of my life: of whom shall I be in dread?" The argument is short and complete; all the more complete that it does not look round or take account of any special evils, but looks up, and only needs to look up, into Jehovah's face. The "light" not merely manifests what is around me: it is God Himself who is manifested in it; and thus His own character becomes the conscious security of the soul. What an assurance — what a joy and blessing the light is! Beauty, warmth, the vigor of life itself, are all found in it; and thus salvation is closely connected with this primary thought. The light of the first day meant salvation out of its ruin for that world which it disclosed yet buried under the waters; the first pulsation of its rays was the throb of a new life which had come in for it. And with God known the light apprehended is the dawn of an endless day, the power of an eternal life begun, which is but the inner process accomplishing of His salvation.

It is very profitable to notice that the ground of the psalmist's confidence, at the commencement of the psalm, is laid in what Jehovah is, as known by the soul: "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?" (v. 1.) God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all; but the kingdom of Satan is characterised by darkness. In Colossians, therefore, after we are said to be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, we are described as being delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. And if we take salvation in the Psalm in its evident sense of deliverance, we see how largely the psalmist had anticipated the truth of Christianity; for Jehovah had become his light - in a region outside of Satan's kingdom and power - and hence also his deliverance. Moreover, Jehovah was the strength of his life, and thus the One on whom he could lean in the sense of his own utter weakness, and the One on whom he could confidently count, whatever the forces arrayed against him. Well, therefore, might he cry out, Whom shall I fear? And again, Of whom shall I be afraid? So will it be with all who enter, in any measure, into what God is for us as revealed in Christ; for if God be for us, who can be against us?

The next two verses contain a fact and an anticipation, or an experience and an expressed confidence. David had been surrounded by wicked enemies; they had come upon him like wild beasts of prey, to eat up his flesh, but they stumbled and fell. Outcast as he was, and as the remnant will be whom he represents, and with all the power of the kingdom of his enemy against him, he was yet safe under the protection of his Light and his Deliverer. Again and again Saul determined to destroy David; but all his efforts were frustrated; and that without a blow being struck by David for his own preservation. The more completely the believer leaves himself in the hands of the Lord, whatever the apparent hopelessness of his situation, the more fully he will realize the Lord's succour and deliverance. And David's past experience, recalled by present faith, led him to survey fearlessly the possibilities of the future: "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." We cannot live upon past experiences, but faith argues that God is ever the same, and that as He has delivered, He will continue to deliver. (Compare 2 Cor. 1:10.) It is very blessed, therefore, to learn what God is for us from His past dealings, and from His interventions on our behalf.

(v. 1) The first verse presents the ground of the believer's confidence. He can say, “The Lord is my light and my salvation,” and “the Lord is the strength of my life.” He has “light” from the Lord in the midst of the prevailing darkness; he knows the Lord will, in His own time, deliver him from all his enemies; in the meantime he has the support of the Lord.

Without the light there is no discernment for the path, so that many indeed are those who walk in darkness, not knowing where they are going. But the believer knows Christ as the Light, He who gives understanding, making our way clear before us. "For the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day" (Prov. 4:18). He is also our salvation, delivering us from our sins by reason of His great sacrifice of Calvary, and from the many difficulties that press from every side. When we have found this to be transparently true, then what reason is there for fear of anything or anyone? Indeed, added to light and salvation is the fact that the Lord is the strength of our life, strength infinitely greater than the combined power of men and Satan. Though our own strength fails us miserably, we may say with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).

How blessed that the Lord Himself has become our "Light." He is not often so presented in the Old Testament. We could not have borne it unless His love had been revealed with it; hence it comes out more in the New Testament. The One who has become our Light, with the necessary exposure of all our ruin, has also become our "Salvation." When that is so, we can say, "Whom shall I fear?" All the exercise that the heart is brought into, finds its answer here; He is "the Strength of our Life," so we can be fearless before the foe. We have confidence and boldness.

(Verses 1-3). In all his difficulties and trials, the godly soul finds in the Lord his unfailing resource. The Lord is his "light", his "salvation", and his "strength".

Amidst the prevailing darkness the Lord not only gives light but He is light. The Christian can say that the Lord has trodden the path and met the contradiction of sinners and is the perfect example of the spirit in which opposition is to be met. Moreover, the Lord can deliver, and in the end will deliver from every enemy. In the meantime the Lord is our strength to support us through all the trials of life.

With the Lord as his resource, the believer can say, "Of whom shall I be afraid?" We may be opposed by individual enemies, or by a host of enemies, or by "war" — prolonged opposition at every step of the journey. But the heart need not fear nor the soul lose confidence seeing we have the Lord as our light, our salvation, and our strength.

53 Psalm 27 shows the heart confident in Jehovah, yet exercised before Him in the presence of the outward manifestations of evil. What would create fear more than distress of spirit? The connection of confidence in thinking of the enemies, and exercise of heart when looking to God, I think instructive, though at first sight it seems strange in this psalm. Confidence is not indifference or insensibility; but true exercises of heart with God, even when fear accompanies those exercises, shew themselves in confidence and boldness in presence of the hostile action of evil. Man would have spoken of fear when in presence of the enemy and confidence when with God. Whereas grace, working in true exercises of heart with God, gives boldness with the enemy. There is a real power of evil. The rightly taught heart feels it in its inward sources and reality (more or less spiritually), but feels it with God, and then is at peace in the midst of, and as to, the conflict itself. So Christ sweat, as it were, great drops of blood in exercise of soul before God, and was of perfect calmness in the presence of His enemies, yea, they fell to the ground at the mention of His name. This is full of instruction as to the difficulties and pains of Christian life. Where the heart, conscious of the power of evil, is exercised with and before God as to it, the evil itself, whatever its power, is powerless when it comes, assuming the exercise to be complete. "This is your hour," said Christ, "and the power of darkness." But He had felt all that with God, and took the cup, as to the fact, out of the Father's, not the enemy's hand, who had as to Christ no such power.

The psalm shows us the working of this in ordinary men according to His Spirit. Jehovah is the saints' light by faith, lightens up all around. There is no power of darkness for the spirit, when darkness is there in power. It rules in the enemies, but light is in the heart from the Lord, and it walks thus in the light. This is a great consolation. But the Lord is more than this - He is actual deliverance. This, till the cup was drunk, He could not be for Christ; but He is known to be so for the redeemed soul in the midst of the trial. The same revelation of Jehovah which gives light gives us in the light to be assured of the deliverance: I do not say necessarily to see the deliverance, for the how may be obscured, but to be assured of it. Because Jehovah is there in light, He will deliver; so the Father for us, and in His place of government, the Lord. But if it be God Himself, clearly there is nothing to fear. This is celebrated in thinking of the wicked, whom no conscience restrains - of war, where will is unbridled, however violent and mighty; if the Lord is there, all is provided for. But an important principle, or state of soul, is associated with, and is the basis of, this confidence - entire singleness of eye and desire, the looking to Jehovah for, and seeking one thing, to be with Him, in His presence where He is, and can be adored; to behold His beauty, and learn there His will and mind. But this, on the other hand, is connected with confidence in His goodness. The soul, defenceless in itself, knows Jehovah will hide it in the time of trouble in His pavilion. Who shall hurt or disturb it there? And what love in the Lord, what interest He takes in those He loves! The soul dwells with Him, and dwells in safety. It is not apparent deliverance, but the secret of His tabernacle. And it is wonderful bow Jehovah does when evil rages, and there seems no resource; the soul seeks none, it confides sweetly and quietly in Jehovah, sure of security in Him. Verse 6 counts on full deliverance and praise in His tabernacle, now not a hiding-place, nor a secret, but the blessed place of open praise.

She must be exposed in the presence of God. She must see that she is nothing but a poor corrupt sinner, and that only mercy can save her from the judgment to which her guilty life had made her liable. It is in the light that we get salvation; and in one sense salvation is by the light, for salvation lies in the knowledge of God. The word to Christ is: “I have set Thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that Thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47). Salvation, as known at this present time, is the emancipation of the soul from every evil thing that held it in bondage, so that the subjects of salvation may be at liberty to serve the living God. “Let My son go, that he may serve Me,” was the word of God that was sent by Moses to Pharaoh. This salvation was realized by the people at the Red Sea, when the proud host of Egypt was overwhelmed by the waters, and Israel was brought to God in the wilderness. But that salvation was temporal and governmental, and was a deliverance of flesh and blood from the domination of flesh and blood, whereas our salvation is the salvation of the soul, and is spiritual and eternal. The work of the cross is, I need scarcely say, the foundation of all God’s dealings with us in grace, but practical salvation lies in the knowledge of God; and therefore is Christ both light and salvation.

This Psalm leads us deeper. We repeat that primarily it is a rehearsal of David's experience, perhaps at the time of Absalom's rebellion. Here faith breaks through in triumph, with deep longings for the house of the Lord and for His presence, which is followed by a description of the trials through which the godly Israelites will pass in the future. He is light, salvation and the strength of life; thus faith lays hold on the Lord and in view all fear and terror must vanish. "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?" It belongs to us all. Yet greater is the shout of faith uttered on the pinnacle of our great Salvation Epistle, Romans 8--"If God be for us, who can be against us?"

(Verses 5, 6). Connected with desires after the Lord there is of necessity confidence in the Lord. If the Lord is my salvation He will hide me from all my enemies. If He is my strength, He will "keep me" in safety (N.T.) firmly established upon a rock; and, in due time, will lift up my head above all my enemies for His own glory and praise.