We Have A Great Light In Our Darkness

I pray that you start every day with God. I chose to read daily devotions from Our Daily Bread. Today's devotion is titled "A Great Light." Winn Collier wrote this devotion. The scripture reading is from Isaiah 9:1–3. The key verse is, "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light." Isaiah 9:2. My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ; before I write, I first pray to God to guide my words to serve as spiritual food and guidance. I desire God to be my sole source of writing. All the credit goes to God, not me. I am his humble servant. I thank God that He led me to use Our Daily Bread Ministries to inspire comments and witnessing.

Background:

King Ahaz of Judah, threatened by the armies of Israel and Syria (Isaiah 7:1–6), turned to Assyria for help instead of trusting in God. Because Ahaz didn't turn to God, Isaiah warned that He'd instead use Assyria to punish Judah (Isaiah 7:17–25; 10:5–19). Isaiah warned that the people of Judah would "have no light of dawn" and be "thrust into utter darkness" (Isaiah 8:20, 22). But God loved them too much to leave them there. He'd bring them "a great light," starting from Zebulun and Naphtali, lands in Israel's far north ravaged by the Assyrians (Isaiah 9:1–3). Isaiah prophesied of a future time when "Galilee of the nations" (v. 1) (or "of the Gentiles") would be honored. Seven hundred years later, Matthew tells us that this was fulfilled when Jesus, the light of the world, came into Galilee and did much of His public ministry there (Matthew 4:12–17).

Reflect:

How are you prone to experience darkness and despair? Consider this image of Jesus as the great light—how does this light renew you with hope?

My Comments to You:

Presently, in our country, we are living" in spiritual darkness." There are political, racial, spiritual, emotional, and physical divisions. There is violence everywhere, and our justice system is corrupt. However, we can be assured that no matter how dark "the night" or how desperate our circumstances are, we are never forsaken in the dark. Jesus is here. A great Light shines.

My Prayer for Us:

God, there's so much darkness. We sometimes fear that the darkness will overwhelm us. Be our great light. Shine on us with radiant love.

Our Daily bread Ministries (2021/31/11) A Great Light, Winn Collier, retrieved from www.odb.org 31/11/2021, A Great Light.