Let The Lower Lights Be Burning

There's an old hymn by Philip P. Bliss called 'Let the Lower Lights Be Burning'. It was written after he heard a message by D.L. Moody who told the story of a ship captain trying to make it into Cleveland's harbor.

On a dark stormy, night when the waves rolled like mountains, and not a star was to be seen, a boat, rocking and plunging, neared the Cleveland harbor.

"Are you sure this is Cleveland?" asked the captain, seeing only one light from the light-house.

"Quite sure, sir," replied the pilot.

"Where are the lower lights?"

"Gone out, sir."

"Can you make the harbor?"

"We must, or perish, sir!"

And with a strong hand and a brave heart, the old pilot turned the wheel. But alas, in the darkness he missed the channel, and with a crash upon the rocks the boat was shivered, and many a life lost in a watery grave.

"Brethren, the Master will take care of the great light-house: let us keep the lower lights burning!" D.L. Moody.

Philip P. Bliss, The Charm: A Collection of Sunday School Music (Chicago, Illinois: Root & Cady, 1871)

Brightly beams our Father's mercy
From his lighthouse evermore,
But to us he gives the keeping
Of the lights along the shore.

Let the lower lights be burning,
Send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor fainting struggling seaman,
You may rescue, you may save.

Dark the night of sin has settled,
Loud the angry billows roar;
Eager eyes are watching, longing,
For the lights along the shore.

Let the lower lights be burning,
Send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor fainting struggling seaman,
You may rescue, you may save.

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;
Some poor sailor tempest tossed,
Trying now to make the harbor,
In the darkness may be lost.

Let the lower lights be burning,
Send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor fainting struggling seaman,
You may rescue, you may save.

Moody's point was that our lives are to be the 'lights' that lead people to Christ. The 'lower lights' were all the lights that outlined the shore, helping vessels to see where the narrow harbor channel lay.

I love that illustration. But this hymn always reminded me of the lights of our homeplace on the shore of Saginaw Bay.

You can see one of the lights here. It's the tall pole on the left side of the picture with an orange rectangle on top.

They are hard to see, but there is a lower light and an upper light. They mark the channel that leads into the marina. When you are out on the water, you line them up one on top of the other and that's how you find your way home. Neat trick, huh? They have to be lined up exactly or you miss the 'cut' and will run aground in shallow water.

Like the Captain of the ship that missed the harbor into Cleveland, you have to be searching for the way in. There's a path you must follow if you want to make it home safely.

This is the mouth of the cut - it's easy to miss, especially at night from out on the water. The lights along the shore help you get your bearings so you can head in the general direction of the marina. But in order to make this small channel you have to line up the two lights together and stay on course.

God's Word does the same thing in directing the path of our life. It's the truth of His word that leads us in the direction we need to go.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Ps 119:105

All for Him
Missy