Arise! Shine!

Isaiah 60:1-2

“Arise [from spiritual depression to a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the Lord]; for your light has come,  And the glory and brilliance of the Lord has risen upon you.

2 “For in fact, darkness will cover the earth

And deep darkness will cover the peoples;

But the Lord will rise upon you [Jerusalem]

And His glory and brilliance will be seen on you.

A very good friend of mine brought this well known scripture to my attention this week, and somehow it just did not want to disappear again.  Every time I think about Monday devotions and wonder "what is the Lord saying for this week?" this comes to mind.  Therefore I think we had better pay attention to Isaiah 60. So here goes:

Is there anyone out there that feels their light is sort of dimming in this very challenging time, or is it just me?   The darkness seems to escalate continuously and less and less light and truth seem to be visible out there.  It is truly a time where darkness covers the earth and a deep darkness the people.  However, in the midst of this darkness, God encourages us to "Arise!" and to stand up from our downtrodden state and let the Light that He shines upon us "Shine!"

John 1:4-5 says:  "4 In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it]."

Even though the darkness covers the earth and the people, the Light of Christ is upon us and the darkness does not understand it, nor can it overpower it, or appropriate or absorb it. If we read closely in Isaiah 60 we see clearly that it is not our own light that we need to 'shine', it is the Light of the Lord that rises upon us.  He is our Light that has come, He came to shine on us and we can merely reflect His Light to the world.  In Him is life and the life IS the LIGHT of men.  

Points to ponder this week:

Let us ask the Lord to clean our mirrors with which we reflect the Light that He shines on us, so that the glory that He shines upon us will be reflected brilliantly into this present darkness around us!  

Arise shine for the Light is come