My light and my salvation: David's answer to fear

David called God my light and my salvation in the first line of Psalm 27: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? (Psalm 27:1). In Hebrew it is ori ve-yish'i. Light lets you see what is really there. Salvation means rescue, the way out. David put the two together and found that fear had less room to grow.

David in the dark

Psalm 27 is marked in the King James Bible as a psalm of David. It does not tell us the exact day he wrote it, and it is better not to guess. What it does tell us is the kind of trouble he was in. People were coming at him like wild animals:

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Psalm 27:2-3

A host is an army. To encamp is to set up camp around a place. David could picture a whole army parked outside his door, and he still said his heart would not panic.

What makes this psalm so honest is that the confidence does not last the whole way through without a struggle. Around verse 7 the mood changes. David starts pleading: Hide not thy face far from me (Psalm 27:9). Then comes one of the most tender lines in the Psalms:

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

Psalm 27:10

To forsake someone is to leave them behind. Near the end David admits how close he came to giving up. He says he would have fainted if he had not believed he would see God's goodness in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13). So the bold opening line is not the voice of a man who never felt afraid. It is what he chose to say first, knowing fear was on its way.

Ori ve-yish'i in plain Hebrew

Or is the ordinary Hebrew word for light. It is the word in Genesis 1:3, when God said Let there be light. Strong's lexicon, a standard word list for the King James Bible, says it covers light "in every sense," including lightning and even happiness. The King James also translates it day, morning and sun. Add the ending -i and it becomes ori, "my light."

Notice what David did not say. He did not say God gives him light, though that is also true. He said God is his light. The light is a Person who goes with him.

Yesha is a word for salvation, safety and rescue. It comes from the root yasha, the same root behind the Hebrew word for savior, whose basic idea is being brought out into open space. With the ending it becomes yish'i, "my salvation." Ve in the middle just means "and."

The second half of the verse adds a third picture. the LORD is the strength of my life. The word for strength there is ma'oz, which means a stronghold or fortress, a safe place to run into. That is why some modern versions say "the stronghold of my life."

So in one verse David gives God three jobs. Light, so he can see. Salvation, so he can get out. A fortress, so he can be safe while he waits. If you were stuck in a dark room with someone dangerous, you would want all three.

Key King James verses about God as light

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

Read the whole verse slowly. The two questions are not really questions. They are David's way of telling fear it has no right to boss him around.

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

Micah 7:8

The prophet Micah talks back to an enemy who is gloating. He admits he has fallen and is sitting in the dark, but he says the darkness is not the end.

For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

Psalm 18:28

A candle here means a lamp. In David's world a small clay oil lamp was often the only light in a house at night. He trusted God to keep his lamp burning.

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

The psalm ends here. David says "wait" twice. Courage, in this verse, is not rushing ahead. It is holding steady until God acts.

Turning on the light when you are scared

Almost everyone knows how much bigger a worry feels in the middle of the night. The test you are dreading, the bill you cannot pay, the doctor's call you are waiting on, the friend who suddenly went quiet: in the dark, each one seems to fill the room. Light does not always make the problem disappear. It shows you its real size, and it shows you who is standing next to you.

David's method is worth borrowing. He did not deny that enemies were real. He started by saying who God is, and then he looked at his fears in that light. You can do the same, out loud if it helps: The LORD is my light and my salvation. Then name the thing you are afraid of, and ask the question David asked.

It also helps to remember what David wanted most. In verse 4 he says there is one thing he asks of God: to live close to Him and to look at His beauty. Fear shrinks when your attention is fixed on someone bigger than the danger. David did not win his battle with fear by staring harder at his enemies. He won it by looking at God for longer than he looked at them.

The end of the psalm gives one more piece of advice. Wait. Fear pushes people to make big choices fast. Many regrets come from decisions made in the dark.

• Memorize Psalm 27:1. You will not always have a Bible open when fear shows up.
• Write down the fear that keeps you up at night, and next to it write who God is.
• If you are carrying a scary secret, bring it into the light by telling a trusted adult or friend.
• If there is a big decision in front of you, give it time and pray before you act.

In the middle of this psalm David promises, I will sing praises unto the LORD, and the next name in the book is My Song, from the song Moses and Israel sang after the Red Sea. The name right before this one is Thy Saviour, which comes from the same Hebrew root as salvation. You can find names to pray through on the praying the names of God page.