The Lower Lights

FOR GENERATIONS, harbors have served as places of refuge—a safe haven where sailors and their ships can find shelter from the dangers of a storm. Yet simply finding the harbor is not always enough. Especially on dark and stormy nights, captains often depend on a series of lights to guide them safely through the channel and into port.

Historically, safe passage into a harbor was often marked by an upper light and a lower light, placed at different heights and some distance apart. As a ship prepared to enter the harbor, its captain would carefully align its course with both lights. This alignment helped ensure safe passage past hidden dangers such as reefs, rocks, or shallow waters.

Evangelist Dwight L. Moody once shared an account of a ship struggling to reach the safety of a harbor during a violent storm. The captain could clearly see the beam of the lighthouse, but the smaller harbor lights—the “lower lights”—had gone out. Unable to properly navigate the channel, the ship was wrecked, and many lives were lost.

As Moody told this story, renowned hymn writer Philip Bliss was listening and felt inspired to write the hymn now known as “Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy.”

The hymn reads in part:

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.1

The lighthouse of God’s love shines brightly, sending forth His mercy to all who will receive it. And God involves us in His work, entrusting us with the keeping of the lower lights. Our kindness, our service, and our invitations of friendship help the lower lights burn brightly, illuminating the way for all who are seeking refuge from the storms of life.

Jesus said, “Let your light so shine … that [all] may see your good works.”2

May we each let our light shine, always remembering that our acts of service and love are reflections of His Light. He is the “light of the world.”3 His Light offers perpetual hope and heavenly guidance, and it can be seen across the waves by all who are searching for safe harbor.