Monday, December 1, 2014
Isaiah 60:2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
JESUS, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (1)
A few weeks ago we turned our clocks from Daylight Savings Time back to Standard Time. Now, according to those clocks anyway, it gets darker earlier in the evening than it did before. Already by 5:30, in fact, I can hardly see across the street. Some people don't like the early darkness. They prefer the light. Light suggests activity, happiness and hope. Darkness suggests dreariness and depression.
The Advent season begins "in the darkness" so to speak. The light of Christmas is still below the horizon and before it comes into full view for us we must pass through some shadows. The world too needed to pass through the darkness before the Savior, the Light of the World, burst onto the scene at Bethlehem.
We may face our own personal times of darkness which lead us to cry out things such as, "Can I find relief for my guilt? Why doesn't God answer my prayers? Why doesn't He deliver me? Why must I suffer like this? Why do bad things happen? Can this mess be fixed?" Thick darkness surrounds us and we want light.
Yet we are called upon to wait for the light to shine most fully and chase every darkness away. That is what Advent is. It is a time of waiting for the light. It is a time of waiting for all those shadows to melt away in the full brightness of God's glory. This good news, though, is your confidence in the darkness: That Light will shine. He is coming!
