Monday July 29, 2013
Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; For your light has come!
ARISE AND SHINE
It was a dark and dismal time! The nation of Israel had rejected their God, the living God, to worship dead idols made by human hands. As a result, God sent Isaiah to proclaim His judgment against Judah. Jerusalem with its temple would be destroyed. The people would be taken into captivity in a foreign land. All their comfort and security would be lost.
Not many listened to Isaiah or heeded his message until the judgment came upon them. That was a time of deep darkness, despair, misery -- AND repentance.
At that time the words of Isaiah, more than a century old, called to them saying, "Arise, shine; for your light has come!" They were to ARISE from their gloom and despair and SHINE! They were to shine with joy and happiness, with praise and thanksgiving.
Why? Because "your light has come." Isaiah proclaimed a message of hope, light, and joy. God would not cast them off forever. Their Messiah would come and deliver them from their sin and shame and restore them to glory.
Do you have times of doubt and despair, times of misery and sorrow, of darkness and gloom? God also calls to you through His prophet. He calls out, "Arise, Shine!" Arise out of your gloom and sorrow and shine with joy and peace. Why? "For your light has come!" God isn't telling us to lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Jesus is your light. He shines into your life to dispel all darkness and gloom. He shines into your life to give you all joy and fill you with all praise. He shines into your life with His forgiving love to cure the root of all problems -- your sin.
In the dark, everything looks frightening. Uncertainty causes fear of what might be in the next corner, behind every disease or accident, behind the next door that our children open. However, Jesus' forgiving love shines into those dark recesses and shows us that in every dark corner and every door is God's radiant love and mercy. Wherever we go, He goes ahead of us to smooth the way and to turn every possible danger into a blessing.
With Jesus shining on us and in our life, we can arise and shine and let our life reflect the goodness of God for all to see.
