LIGHT
Isaiah 60:20
Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. [NIV]
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. [KJV]
The word of God offers us comfort in challenging and distressing times.
Far too frequently, in our personal lives, we have witnessed the light of possibilities relinquish itself to darkness, complacency, and sometimes despair. In essence, mourning offers us companionship because morning has become night. We look for glimmers of sunshine or radiance in the daily malaise of our existence and find no sun, no light, but pervasive gray overcast instead.
The story of the Twelve Apostles by the Brothers Grimm depicts the circumstances of a woman who had twelve sons. Times became increasingly difficult and the mother finds it even more increasingly difficult for her to feed her children. In her earnest desire to appease their suffering, she prayed to God daily and requested that God would allow her sons to be with the Savior on earth as the promised day arrived.
As her circumstance appeared increasingly bleak, so too, did her inability to see light. As her desperation increased, she had little expectation that the light would shine again on her mourning as she doubted that morning would arise again.
Consequently, she sent her sons out, one after the other, into the world to seek his bread. The oldest son was called Peter. After having completed a long days journey, Peter found himself lost in the deep bowels of the forest with thirst and hunger as his only companions. He became so weak that he was forced to lie down on the ground and believed that he was near death.
Suddenly, a small boy appeared. He countenance was radiant and brilliant with light. The boy-child clapped his hands so as to get the attention of Peter, who then looked up. The boy said, "Why are you sitting there with such a troubled look." Peter told the boy that he was wandering about the world seeking bread so that he might see the Savior on the promised day, which was his greatest wish.
The boy petitioned Peter to follow him and gently took him by the hand. The boy-child tells Peter that his wish will be granted. Peter is led between two cliffs to a large cave. As they entered, everything glistened with gold, silver, and crystal. In the middle of the cave stood twelve cradles in a row. Then the angel said, "Lie down in the first one and sleep a little. I'm going to rock you."
Peter complied as requested. As he slept, the second brother, who was also guided by the guardian angel, entered the cave and was rocked to sleep like Peter. Afterwards, the others came, one after another, until all twelve lay fast asleep in the golden cradles. They slept three hundred years until the night that the Savior of the world was born. Then they awoke and were with him on earth and were called the twelve apostles.
This narrative offers us hope and illumination about LIGHT. Oftentimes, in our quest for light, we seek it externally. However, the most effective manner by which its brilliance can be accessed is to allow ourselves to become enlightened and have our burdens lightened by allowing ourselves to be present to our own darkness via inward reflection; i.e., when we offer our woundedness, hopelessness, fear, despair, ambivalence, and complacency to the LORD, we are, subsequently, enlightened and embraced by the light of God.
Consequently, in order that we might access the places where gold, silver, and crystal are found, we must be amenable to entering our own caves! Peter was required to walk through the chasm between two large cliffs before he could access the splendors of God and become enlighted, so too, must we.
What are the "caves" and "cliffs" in your life that you might be reluctant to entrust to God's healing light?
What are the places in your life where the gold, silver, and crystal are found; hope allows you to view them, but the presence of fear and doubt keeps them remaining beyond your reach?
In essence, in order for us to access the light, we must allow ourselves and the things to which we cling to be "rocked." Closer amplification of this narrative renders us two perspectives on "rocking:" 1] The mother, like each of us, has experienced our world being rocked by the unpredictable, the unexpected, the dreaded, and that which is undesirable and 2] When we are impacted by the first "rocking" of our circumstances, the Lord desires us to be gently "rocked" by his loving presence in his loving light, like the loving parent who rocks the child and like the mother and Peter.
When was the last time that you allowed yourself to lie down in the safety of GOD'S loving presence and simply be "rocked" in the light of GOD?
You might be wandering what about the meaning of this LIGHT: It is GOD'S
Love
Intimately
Given to
Heal and to
Transform
Come, Rest, Sleep, and be Rocked!
Blessings
Plethora Ministries
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