Psalm 112:4 To the upright there rises light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. 1. "Light "and "darkness," figuratively, denote life and death, knowledge and ignorance, virtue and vice, joy and sorrow. 2. There are four things in the text. (1) Certain characters — "the upright." (2) Their seasons of darkness — "the darkness." (3) Light in those seasons — "there ariseth light." (4) The time when the light comes — "in the darkness." 3. Who are "the upright"? (Psalm 97:11; 43:8). 4. The "upright" have their seasons of darkness. Sickness, poverty, debt, family trials, etc. To some, the whole of life is, in a measure, a season of "darkness" (Proverbs 14:10). 5. To "the upright," "light" comes in such seasons of "darkness." There is the cloud, but there is also "the bright light on the cloud." Innocence can shed "light" in the seasons of slander and mis-judgment. A desire to know the truth, and to follow it, with a quiet consciousness of the necessary limits of our knowledge, is so much "light" in seasons of doubt and mystery. Repentance, faith, confession, and reparation, bring "light," when our own sins bring "darkness." 6. Notice particularly that the "light" is said to arise "in the darkness." It was so with Christ in Gethsemane (Luke 22:43); and with St. Paul when the "thorn in the flesh" troubled him (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). In neither case was the "darkness" entirely removed. There was "darkness," but there was also "light in the darkness." 7. All persons, whether "upright" or otherwise, have their seasons of "darkness," of one kind or another. All, too, have "light" from some source or other, for man as naturally seeks relief from what is painful, as he seeks for food when he is hungry. But from whence come the "darkness," and the "light" too? (Isaiah 1:10, 11). 8. "Darkness" there must be: no being can escape it. And when the "darkness" comes, and while the "darkness" continues, there may be "light." Where, from, and to whom? (Psalm 4:6). (F. Young.) Parallel Verses KJV: Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.WEB: Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous. |
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