[Read Psalm 118:27-29]
There’s a story I heard as a child that still haunts me to some degree. Growing up in Montana, I was able to see many beautiful things. One of those beautiful things was the Lewis and Clark Caverns. It’s one of those caves that goes deep into the heart of a mountain, covered in stalagmites and stalactites. It’s filled with color and beautiful shapes.
Yet, at one point in the tour, when you’re deep into the heart of the mountain, the guide stops everything. Then he turns off the lights. And, for the first time, you get to experience TRUE darkness. In the heart of the mountain, there isn’t even a sliver of light. Then, in that total darkness, they tell a story about a man who snuck into the cave back in the thirties. Yet, when he reached the heart of the mountain, his lantern went out and he was trapped in the cave in total darkness. It took them three days to find him. When they found him, he was completely disoriented. He was walking in tight circles, thinking he was working his way toward the exit. He thought his body was crawling with snakes and spiders. And on top of that, once they got him out of the cave, he still couldn’t see. They call it “cave blindness.” It took him over a week to regain his sight. True darkness is not only scary and disorienting, it’s also very destructive.
Then we read in Isaiah about people walking in darkness and living in the deep darkness. Isaiah isn’t describing people walking around in the beauty of night, with the moon and stars lighting our way. He calls it deep darkness; heart of the mountain darkness; darkness that is disorienting and debilitating and destructive. And Isaiah is telling us that the world is walking and living in that type of darkness.
And I think we feel this deep down. I think we can look at the anger and hatred and division and see that we’re living in a world of deep darkness—a darkness that is destructive. And when we try to figure out what’s happening, and we struggle to figure out the truth—struggle to know what is true and what is false—we begin to recognize that we’re walking in a world of deep darkness—a darkness that disorients us. Often, as we go through life, we think we’re making our way out of that darkness, toward the exit of the cave. Yet, after a few days, we find out that we’ve been walking in tight little circles, getting nowhere, making no progress. All of these things leave us longing for one thing in particular—Light.
That’s why it’s so powerful to read this well-known Christmas verse, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” (Isaiah 9:2, ESV). Then we read in tonight’s passage, “The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us.” (Psalm 118:27, ESV). As we’re walking in deep darkness, and trying to live in deep darkness, the Lord makes his light shine upon us. All of a sudden we can see a little bit. Although, we’re much like the man in the cave. When light shone on him in the darkness, he still couldn’t see for a while. It took time for him to regain his sight. It took time for his eyes to readjust to receiving the light. Yet, God is still shining his light on us in the darkness to reorient us and restore us.
And here are a couple ways God reorients us with his light. Our Passage ends with this powerful statement, “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 118:29, ESV). When God’s light shines in our darkness, we can begin to see that God is good and his steadfast love endures forever. We can’t see that in the dark. We can’t find that truth in the dark. Yet, God’s light is shining on us, reminding us that he is good and his steadfast love endures forever.
Tonight, we’re celebrating a moment where God shed tremendous light on his goodness and steadfast love. Jesus Christ’s birth in the manger is a spotlight on God’s goodness and steadfast love. When you look at Christ, you see God’s goodness and his steadfast love. You see the goodness of God in the fact that he sent his Son into the world to save us from all our sins and you’re reminded that God hasn’t left us for dead—he hasn’t left us to hopelessly wander in the darkness. He came to save us and He promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He shone light into our darkness to reorient us and restore us.
And part of that reorientation and restoration is seeing God as OUR God. Our passage says it twice: “You are my God…you are my God…” (Psalm 118:28, ESV). When light shines in our darkness, and we begin to see things clearly, we begin to recognize that God isn’t some generic deity somewhere out there in the universe. He’s OUR God. Many people walk through life as though God were far away and distant, uninvolved with their daily lives. They only live this way because they are still walking in darkness. When God shines his light on us, we begin to see that he is near. He is our God and we are his people.
And we must also see that as true of Jesus. This child that we celebrate tonight was born to bring salvation to the world. This child was born to live and die and rise again for the forgiveness of our sins. He is our God and we are his people. He is not our God because we chose Him amongst a bunch of other gods. No. There are no other gods. He is our God because we have looked to him in faith, trusted him for the forgiveness of our sins, and he purchased us as his own. That’s why we can say he is OUR God and we are his people.
And this should stir our hearts to give thanks to him and praise him. We read, “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 118:28–29, ESV). This is why we’re gathered here tonight. To give thanks to God for sending his son into the world—for shedding his light on the world and bringing salvation. We’re here to extol—to praise and honor—God for bringing us into his family and calling us his own. We’re here to sing songs of praise because we’ve seen the goodness and steadfast love of God in the birth of his Son Jesus Christ.