Psalm Chapter 36 - To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD

Psalm 36: The Light by Which We See Light

The psalm opens in an almost clinical diagnosis of evil, and David finds its root in a single, unexpected place — a man's flattering opinion of himself. Not in anger, not in greed, not in any of the dramatic vices, but in the quiet, continuous business of admiring one's own face in the private mirror. From that first small lie, the rest follows inevitably: no fear of God, no wisdom, no good, mischief plotted on one's bed at night. But then David does something astonishing. Midway through, without transition, he looks up — and the diagnosis gives way to doxology. The mercy of God, he says, is in the heavens, his faithfulness reaches unto the clouds, his righteousness is like the great mountains, his judgments like the great deep. And then the line that stops the breath: "In thy light shall we see light." Not merely that God gives us light to see other things by, but that God himself is the light by which we see light at all. The wicked cannot see, because they have refused to look up. Everything the righteous see, they see by borrowed brightness.

00:00 The Flattering Self
00:30 Mischief in the Night
00:45 Mercy in the Heavens
01:00 The Shadow of Thy Wings
01:20 The Fountain of Life
01:40 In Thy Light Shall We See Light