Darkness and Light
Darkness and Light
The book of Isaiah covers a good bit of darkness and destruction. It can be overwhelming and, quite frankly, depressing sometimes. Just like looking at the news or feasting on social media, what we take into our minds affects our thinking. Wrong thinking quickly turns into wrong attitudes and wrong actions. When we read scripture, we must do so with the WHOLE counsel of God, the entire Bible in mind. We read scripture through the lens of the cross. From beginning to end, the scriptures point to the cruciform love of God as manifest in the cross, sacrificial love.
Don preached a few weeks ago that we have often misheard the prophesies of scripture, thinking God is rejecting us or out to “get” us; in truth, it is often we who are rejecting God in favor of our own desires and agendas. This type of wrong thinking about God can cause us to fear and cause us to forget. We fear the circumstances around us, and we forget that God is sovereign over all – all places, all people, all times, all creation, all galaxies and beyond. God is sovereign. He is both just and loving. He is not spiteful. He is longsuffering that none should perish.
Tim Keller says that there are two kinds of darkness: outer darkness and inner darkness. Outer darkness happens around us, circumstances, wars, natural disasters and the like. Inner darkness happens within us, anger, fear, and strife, based on the absence of the One True Light.
In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body…” Let us approach Holy God with reverence and fear Him, not what happens around us. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (John 14). He is our strong rock and our refuge (Psalm 62). In Him we have life.
Grace Discipleship: Pray for the needs of others, the hungry & oppressed
Fill the stomachs of your children who are hungry. Fill the souls of people who are feeling lost. Fill the lives of all who need you, but do not know you. May your Spirit fill us all to overflowing, dear Lord, and may we be inspired to share our abundance with others, so that there will be no more empty hearts and minds, stomachs and souls. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, who fills lives with your endless grace.
Don preached a few weeks ago that we have often misheard the prophesies of scripture, thinking God is rejecting us or out to “get” us; in truth, it is often we who are rejecting God in favor of our own desires and agendas. This type of wrong thinking about God can cause us to fear and cause us to forget. We fear the circumstances around us, and we forget that God is sovereign over all – all places, all people, all times, all creation, all galaxies and beyond. God is sovereign. He is both just and loving. He is not spiteful. He is longsuffering that none should perish.
Tim Keller says that there are two kinds of darkness: outer darkness and inner darkness. Outer darkness happens around us, circumstances, wars, natural disasters and the like. Inner darkness happens within us, anger, fear, and strife, based on the absence of the One True Light.
In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body…” Let us approach Holy God with reverence and fear Him, not what happens around us. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (John 14). He is our strong rock and our refuge (Psalm 62). In Him we have life.
Grace Discipleship: Pray for the needs of others, the hungry & oppressed
Fill the stomachs of your children who are hungry. Fill the souls of people who are feeling lost. Fill the lives of all who need you, but do not know you. May your Spirit fill us all to overflowing, dear Lord, and may we be inspired to share our abundance with others, so that there will be no more empty hearts and minds, stomachs and souls. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, who fills lives with your endless grace.
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