During my study time I could not get past these few verses found in 2 Samuel 22:29-31. Every time I would read it, God would share more and more wisdom about it and He would quicken my spirit to receive what His word was saying not only to me but to all of us. It was one of David’s praises and prayers to God after he was rescued from his enemies. Let’s look at each verse separately:

Verse 29. O Lord, you are my lamp. The Lord lights up my darkness.

Now two things came to mind when I meditated on this verse.  The first was the movie “The Book of Eli” with Denzel Washington. Not sure if everyone here has watched the movie before, if you haven’t you really should go see it and I apologize for the spoiler, but in this movie Denzel Washington is fighting to keep the Word of God, the Bible, which in this dystopian kind of society, was the last of its kind. All through the movie he’s met with challenges, people who he has to fight and a girl he’s trying to protect and it’s revealed in the end that the entire time, he was completely blind. He could not see. He was in darkness for the entire film and no one knew. But he was able to pull off what, after looking back, seemed impossible. But God was his lamp! So even in darkness, he could see, he could travel, he could defend himself. He relied on God’s leading and this belief and trust was all the light he needed.

The second thing that came to mind was a reminder that even in times when I feel like I’m lost or like I’m in a really dark place in life or at a place where I can’t seem to tell my left from my right; when I feel like I can’t see God, I can’t hear Him, I don’t know or understand what’s going on in life and I’m just stuck in a dark place. Even in these times, God is my lamp and He lights up the darkness that I may find myself in. 

Verse 30. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale a wall.

After knowing that even in my darkest times that God is providing the light that I need to see, it says that I can crush an army and a step higher than that.. it says like Spiderman, I can scale a wall. Now of course I threw Spiderman in there, but that’s what I think about when I hear “scaling a wall”. Other versions say leap a wall. It’s important to realize here though that David points out who the strength comes from. If we always limited our thinking to what we can achieve in our own strength, we would never accomplish the impossible that we were designed to accomplish. David says in your strength, as he speaks to God, I can crush an army. He understood, as I am reminded what the other writer says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. There’s no one bigger than or stronger than God. He has limitless strength and He gives us the strength we need to defeat any battle we may be facing, and in His strength we can do the impossible. In God’s strength, you can do everything that He has called you to do. 

Verse 31. God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.

Now this one makes me smile. God’s way is perfect. We go through so many things in life. Things we can’t explain or understand; things we’re happy about and then others we just don’t get it. But as David says, God’s way is perfect. We may not understand it, we may not (let’s be honest) agree with it sometimes, but His way is perfect. So it’s working out the way that He has intended it to. Like the scripture also says, “All things are working out for good to them that love the Lord and that are called by His name.” Romans 8:28. He knows what He is doing. We need to trust that His way, not our own, but His way is perfect. Whether that calls for us having to spend more time, more money, or exercise more patience, His way is perfect.

And then it says all of His promises prove true. Notice how it didn’t say most or a lot of, but it says ALL of His promises. So that’s His promises to me, His promises to you, His promises to your mother and your grandmother and her mother all prove true. God is not a liar. He’s not like us. So if He said that it will be done, believe you me, it will come to pass. And then it says He is a shield for those who need protection. I just imagine God as a shield in front of me, behind me and surrounding me and the enemy throwing all he can at me, and I can see the arrows and fireballs he’s trying to throw and I just see God in all His might standing there as a shield for me, making sure I’m protected from every way, and from every side. 

So if you’re in a place of darkness and you can’t imagine what’s next in your life or you’re feeling like you’re just stuck. Remember that God is our lamp and He brings light to every dark place. Also, in God’s strength, which He gives to us, we can do what we need to do. Our purpose can be found in Him and He gives us the strength to not only do it, but succeed. And then finally, His way is perfect. We must trust what He’s doing at all times. We may not understand it most of the time but trust that what happened in your life did not catch Him by surprise. He wasn’t stuck trying to figure out, He knows the end from the beginning and His way is perfect. And in that perfection, He is our shield. So we have Him guiding us, giving us strength, making our path and destiny perfect and then protecting us from whatever comes up. Just in these 3 verses alone God is shown to be my everything. So take courage, remember the God who we serve and trust that He is always with us.