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| Clothed in light - Artist unknown |
TO CHEW ON: "Bless the Lord, O my Soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great:
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment." Psalm 104:1,2
Images of light—and dark—are woven through the Bible. Today let's sample a few of them to understand what the Bible says about light and dark, and to get a sense of where we fit in the spectrum.
- "God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all" - 1 John 1:5.
- God's breath gives man intellectual understanding or light - Job 32:8.
- The prophets depict the coming Messiah in terms of light: "But to you who fear My name / The Sun of Righteousness shall arise…" - Malachi 4:2.
- John talks of Jesus using the metaphor of light: "In Him was life and the life was the light of men … That was the true light which gives light to every man" - John 1:4,9.
- Jesus claimed to be light: " ' I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life' " John 8:12.
- He said belief in Him brought people into light:" ' I have come as a light into the world that whosoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness' " John 12:46.
We gain an understanding and appreciation of light when we contrast it with darkness.
- Moses describes the consequences of disobeying God: "You shall grope at noonday as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways" - Deuteronomy 28:29.
- Proverbs talks of the wicked person's way, "…like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble" - Proverbs 4:19.
- The prophet Micah depicts the time of Israel's apostasy as "… night without vision. And you shall have darkness without divination" - Micah 3:6.
- In general, we humans prefer darkness "…men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" - John 3:19.
- But darkness and light can never coexist. When light comes, darkness has to leave: "And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" - John 1:5.
- We can never hide from God's light. No darkness is too thick that He can't penetrate it - Psalm 139:11,12.
- Paul tells us to cast off darkness and "… put on the armour of light" - Romans 13:12.
- He speaks of our pilgrimage to faith in terms of once being in darkness but now in light - Ephesians 5:8.
- Jesus tells those who believe in Him that they are the light of the world - Matthew 5:14.
- And someday we will live in the city which has no need of the light of sun or moon—for God's Son will illuminate it. Jesus "…the Lamb is its light" - Revelation 21:23.
I ask myself, where am I on this journey from darkness to light? Where are you? Are we living with sin in the shadows, thinking we can hide from God? Have we seen Jesus' attractive light, but we're still in twilight, not sure we want to go all the way in putting on that armour? Or are we on the pilgrimage to ever-increasing light as we let the scriptures probe our lives, shining light on any rooms and corners where darkness still resides, becoming ever more attractive light-bearers (2 Corinthians 3:18)? Let's live in the light now so we can look forward with anticipation to heaven when we will experience perfect light!
PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being light. Help me to expose my life to Your light and walk in it all my days. Amen.
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
