On Them Has Light Shined

Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

In a previous devotional I mentioned that I enjoy boating at night. When I was growing up back in Michigan we had a lighthouse, the Tawas Point Lighthouse, we could use to help navigate. It worked really well as guide when the stars were obscured by clouds. It was a constant source of a fixed point to navigate towards or away from, unless a fog set in while you were out on the water.

Can you really grasp that in the bright light of daytime that we are all walking in the darkness?  Odd as that may seem, it is truly the case. We are surrounded by darkness. I know from personal experience that in some places the darkness that threatens to engulf us is more easy to see in the light of day. Yet the really difficult places of darkness are the places we chose to deny as being darkness. The land of denial is a very comfortable place to reside. Life is good, there are no real problems to give you pause. But the land of denial is a land riddle with false hope and bad risk perception because we trivialize our sins. The land of denial is a land of shadows and lots of things hide in the shadows. There are many rocks lying on the ground hiding many unhealthy things. The bottom line my friends is the land of denial is not a good place to be. In the land of denial we walk in the darkness. We choose to not look at the great light from Isaiah 9:2. When we know full well that we are in the land of denial, and deliberately chose to ignore the light, we set ourselves up for failure. The problem is the land of denial is difficult to leave. There is a huge temptation to just stay there and ignore the light. There is an element of fear we do not want to address. But my friends in the Risen Savior, we must leave the place of false comfort. When the rocks are overturned, the ugly creatures living under the rocks are exposed to the light and the shadows are driven away by the great light. The sin we sequester under the rocks and in the shadows of our lives must see the light. We can survive because we are already forgiven. We can pray for faith to overcome the sin we seek to hide. And we must come to realize that we are foolishly trying to hide sin from God. Come on now, just how foolish are we? He is God and he knew us before we were even born. Just who are we trying to deceive? He is God not some foolish friend we can deceive. But when we, the people who have walked in the darkness have seen a great light we can continue to walk in the light. We can put aside our fears and leave the land of denial and come to live in the real world surrounded by fellow refugees from the land of denial. We can live in fellowship with those who have seen the light and are drawn to the great light that is Jesus Christ. There is no denying this, Christ is the way, the truth and the light. And all who believe have the life eternal that is in Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Father, we ask for something simple today. We ask for the faith, strength, and courage to leave the land of denial that we can hide our sins from You. Help us to shine the light of Jesus in all aspects of our lives. We ask this in the name of the one true light, Jesus Christ, Amen.