Psalm 43: Light & Truth Guide to the Temple, Word & Integrity

Rev. Stewart Crown, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Palo Alto, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 43. “Send out your light and your truth.” This pair of themes occurs all over the Bible, but how is it supposed to rescue this son of Korah here in Psalm 43? The Hebrew word for “truth” doesn’t focus on facts and figures, but rather God’s truth-telling integrity. On the one hand, we all rely on God’s integrity and faithfulness to reassure us even when life is full of doubts, even when we feel forgotten and rejected by God. On the other hand, perhaps this Korahite needed God to restore integrity to a broken legal situation, to rescue him from lies and false accusations that were preventing him from going south to the Temple. In the end, we all need God to not only vindicate us in particular situations, but to justify us by forgiving us our sins before Him. Light and truth are ultimately found in our Savior, who in the Gospel of John calls Himself both “the truth” and “the light of the world.”