Arise! Shine! For thy Light is Come!

Last spring we watched the moon rise over the eastern edge of Death Valley, CA. There was something special about that wide expanse of sky that made the moon seem larger, and us smaller. Maybe it was pushing us down to our true size, freed from self importance and the trappings of materialism.

The full moon amazes, and yet it is merely a reflector of something more big and grand, the sun. The sun's face fills the day with light, and heat even from an almost unimaginable distance. And even the sun itself isn't the biggest. It is a created object, made to warm the earth, home of God's great love focus, sinful humans.


Last night young son and I watched the almost full moon, shining right into our picture window. Small clouds moved across its face, making it feel nearer then it really is. The wind was pushing those clouds along at a pretty fast rate. We looked away talking about the beauty of the moon, then looked back. The moon was gone! Gone! All we could see was little wisps of clouds, and above bigger, thicker clouds. The wind had pushed those comforter thick clouds right in front of our moon and as far as young son was concerned, it was gone, stolen. Was it really gone? No. But to my son, it was. He could no longer see it.


In the winter months there are many cloudy, and even foggy days in my part of the country. We can go for weeks on end without seeing a glimpse of the sun. I know it is still there, but not seeing it, it is as good as gone, gone on vacation to a warmer part of the world, somewhere nearer the equator. The lack of sunlight can get me down. I can feel colder on a cloudy day, even if the temperature isn't that low. But in spite of those clouds, the sun is up there shining. It keeps doing its God given work, taking care of our world.

When I don't feel like God is there, is He still there even if I can't see Him? Isaiah 59:2 says, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that He will not hear." Something has come between me and God. Is it God turning His back on me and going away? No, it is like the moon and the sun. Something has blown in between us and God so we can't see him. This verse tells us what it is. Our very own sins are like thick clouds blocking us from the drawing light of God. Some people think that God isn't there because they can't see him. They think that because there are bad things in the world, that a God of love couldn't be in control. Wouldn't He stop these things if He were? But the verses say that it isn't God causing the darkness, it is our sins. That is why we can't see. That get in between God and me.

Verse 9 and 10 say, "We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness...we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night." Verse 12 continues, "For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities we know them."

Our transgressions are making us blind to God and His light. Could it be that when we can't see the light of God, that it is time to make sure we have been doing our part of abiding, giving all we have to God. If we have a heap of transgressions in our life, there is nothing more freeing then to sit there and name them and give them to God for forgiveness, and a complete cleansing.

Verse 20 and 21 promises, "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord." Jesus will come to us! Let's turn away from our transgressions of God's law and follow Him earnestly so that there will be nothing coming between us and God, blocking our view of His loving face.

Isaiah 60:1, 2 shouts, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee."

What a promise! Our light has come! Arise! Shine! There is darkness all over the earth, thick darkness is keeping people from God. But everyone who turns from darkness, sin, transgression, can have light. Jesus is that precious light. He is like the sun, shining in our world.

And don't you think that is part of abiding in Jesus? Giving all we have, and in turn receiving all He has to give.