Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Penetrating the Darkness

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“To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.

To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

You rescue the humble, but your eyes watch the proud and humiliate them.

O LORD, you are my lamp. The LORD lights up my darkness.

In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall." (2 Samuel 22:26–30)

Are times hard? Are days of trouble upon you? When times are tough, the Lord is our only security. David assures us in his song that the Lord delights in us; He sees and cares about what is happening in our lives, this very moment.

The Lord is our support. In tough times He is our most reliable security. He rescues us because He delights in us. What encouragement that brings as the battle endures and exhausts us. David's song of triumph begins on this easily forgotten theme. I am thankful he reminds us of it.

For You are my lamp, O LORD;
And the LORD illumines my darkness. (2 Samuel 22:29)

That reminds me of a scene from my boyhood days. When I was just a lad, my dad and I used to go floundering, a popular pastime on the Texas Gulf Coast. We'd carry a lantern in one hand and a two-pronged spear in the other (called a gig) as we walked along, knee-deep in the shallow water along the shore. As we walked, we'd swing the lantern back and forth as we searched the soft sand for the flounder that came up close to the shore in the evening to eat the shrimp and the mullet. The little lantern provided just enough light to reveal the fish down on the sand beneath the shallow water . . . and just enough so that we could see a few feet ahead as we waded through the water. Actually, it was all the light we needed. It penetrated just enough of the darkness so that we could see where to walk, but not much beyond that.

The same is true of the light we receive from God. At times we flounder along, trying to peer too far into the darkness ahead. Yet He gives us just enough light so that we can see to take the next step. That's all the light He gives and, in reality, that's all we need.