The commands of the LORD are radiant giving light to the eyes.
Psalm 19.8b
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Genesis 1.1-2
In order to make the created order ready and suitable for life and in particular human life, God’s first recorded words are “Let there be light’. Genesis 1.3
Light is essential for physical life as God has created it and the sun provides that light and warmth and all that we need in that area. However quite simply, and sadly, as we observe daily life, it is not sufficient to put mankind on the right course in the moral, ethical and spiritual areas all of which are part of being fully human.
But God has made perfect provision for these areas also if we will but turn to the provision he has made. That provision is in his word where we find his commands and the ‘blueprint’ , as it were, for living. The Psalmist puts it in a nutshell summing up God’s commands as ‘radiant’ and ‘giving light to the eyes’ which surely must be interpreted as ‘giving light to the understanding’ which is key to living life as it should be lived.
These commands are encapsulated in the Decalogue – The Ten Commandments recorded for us in Exodus 20 – but they run through all the pages of scripture and are summarised by the Lord Jesus himself in these well-known words:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22.37-40
It is not difficult to see that obedience to these ‘radiant’ commands is life transforming in every way ‘giving light to the eyes’ but we know that we simply cannot do it on our own. Thus we rejoice in the truth that the Lord Jesus Christ has done it for us in his life of perfect obedience and, acknowledging that truth, if we have accepted him by faith, we are able to see his commands for everyday living are not onerous but ‘radiant’ enabling us to walk in the light to his glory, and as a witness to others of what life is meant to be.
Heavenly Father, in a world where the truth of your word is widely ignored and even ridiculed, grant that today I may walk in the light ,as with the aid of your Holy Spirit, I obey your radiant commands. Amen