Psalm 43 · a question people ask
What are the "light" and "truth" that lead the psalmist in 43:3?
The psalm calls them "your light and your truth" (43:3): God's own, sent out by him. It speaks of them as going before the psalmist: "Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, to your tents" (43:3). It doesn't say more about what they are. Other psalms speak in a similar way. "God will send out his loving kindness and his truth" (Psalm 57:3) has the same verb for send out and the same word for truth (tap truth), and "Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me" (Psalm 40:11) the same word for truth. Of light: "The LORD is my light and my salvation" (Psalm 27:1); "In your light we will see light" (Psalm 36:9); "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path" (Psalm 119:105). And of the wilderness: "In the daytime he also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire" (Psalm 78:14), where led is the verb of 43:3's lead and light is 43:3's word (tap light, lead). These verses stand beside Psalm 43:3 as they are; the psalm itself doesn't say which, if any, it has in mind.
The verses
“Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, to your tents.”
“He will send from heaven, and save me, he rebukes the one who is pursuing me. Selah. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth.”
“Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, LORD. Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.”
“By David. The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?”