Months ago, my friend Sarah shared the song “Candle of the Lord” with me. As songs do, this one was caught in my mind this weekend. You can play it while you read, if you like.
After listening to this song several times today, I wondered, does the Bible actually support, “I am the candle of the Lord”? What about “a myriad tiny flames expanding to a whole”? Is it true that truth and love are more powerful than sword?
I turned to the back of my Bible, and looked under the heading “Light”. I began to look them up. I realized that I knew many of them by memory already. Many open into longer, brilliant passages.
- “And God said, Let there be light!…”
- “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?…”
- “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path…”
- “The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light!…”
- “You are the light of the world…neither do men light a candle….” (There it is!)
- “I am the Light of the world…”
- “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (I know that’s a different word, but I love those verses.)
- “I have made you a light for the Gentiles…”
- “Put on the armor of light…” (I forgot that verse was there! Romans 13:12)
- Perhaps my favorite: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For we have this treasure in earthen vessels (jars of clay), that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.”
What a radiant section of verses!
I think of my favorite time of day, dusk: the time when the darkness and the light trade places. I remember many beautiful memories of sunsets (gloriously colored), street lights (through panes of glass), and store fronts (coming alive as their owners switch them on), and I realize that the thing I love about dusk is that the contrast is so evident. Light doesn’t stand out during the day, but at night it does. Light is beautiful at night.
If you would like to hear Oasis Chorale (and my friend Sarah!) singing this song live, I believe it is on their repertoire this year. They will be singing at my home church, Sandy Ridge Mennonite in Bremen, Indiana, on July 19 at 4:00pm. See Oasis Chorale’s Event page.
Have a radiant week!