Like a moth to a flame
Burned by the fire
My love is blind
Can’t you see my desire
That’s the way love goes
The great poet & philosopher Janet Jackson sang these words, bringing to mind the bug zappers that lure in the moths and other insects with a bright shining light, then zap them into ash. The light and glitz of the Superbowl today also serves as a temptation and a lure for darker things, from human trafficking to gambling to exploitation.
But Jesus said that He is the true light, and here in Psalm 119, the psalmist says “the unfolding of your words gives light”. John tells us that Christ Himself is the Word made flesh, so we can understand this at both the commands, precepts and law (all terms used in the passage) and the living, breathing Word that is Christ.
The physical imagery is stark in this passage, as the psalmist pants for God’s word like a ravenous beast slavers over food. Streams of tears flow from his eyes because of the sin and darkness of the world.
God’s word is the embodiment of God’s truth, and the light of God is a picture of that truth and love. Echoing the Priestly Blessing, the psalmist asks that God’s face shines on him. This is the light that outshines the bug zappers of the world, the Lit Way that guides us in the paths God has set out for us.
And when we follow that way, when we consume that food, when we bask in that light, we are changed. And when we do all this in community as a church we get that light beautifully refracted through the diversity of all of us together, giving new understanding and new perspectives, molding us and changing our desires. We aren’t to kill our desires as other philosophies charge, but rather let our desires be molded by God and His servants around us, so that we seek the light that gives life, and not the flame that burns.
— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, February 12, 2023