Judging by the internet and news, I am supposed to obsess about Carrie Underwood’s 40 stitches and the malfunctioning White House.  It’s this sort of situation that has led people to ask in Psalm 4, “Who will show us some good?  Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”

I thought of Simeon meeting Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus in the temple when I read the rest of the psalm.  In something of a strange song, Simeon sings of his dying in the presence of a baby who has just started living.  But he also proclaims that in this child a light will shine on Gentiles and glory on his people Israel.

Simeon and the psalmist already know they are in the presence of the Lord’s light no matter what the situation around them may be.

The psalmist praises God:  You have put more joy in my heart than those who have a bountiful crop of grain and grapes and will prosper in the next year.  Because of the Lord’s presence, “in peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”