January 17, 2019

For thou are my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness (2 Sam. 22:29).
 
    John Henry Jowett used to tell of a farmer who gave him a lantern when he had to meet a train on a stormy night, saying, "Just to help you see where you are going and keep you our of the ditch."  Then the farmer added: "You see that glimmer of light yonder?  That is Saddleworth station.  Make of it"  The lantern gave him a light for each step, and the glimmer in the distance showed him the appointed course.
 
    "In thy light shall we see light" (Ps. 36:9).  "Light is sown for the righteous" (Ps. 97:11).  And in 1 John 1:5 it is written that "God is light."  This light shines from His Word (Ps. 119:105), and we are to hold it forth as a torch in a dark night (Phil. 2:15, 16).  But our light is from God's lamp; we merely reflect it.  We are to "walk in the light of the Lord" (Isa. 2:5).
 
    Are we in the dark?  Let us be of good cheer--a brighter day is coming soon.  Things will change.  It may even become darker for a while, but the morning will come.  When we cannot find one ray of light in ourselves, in our friends, or in the whole world, "then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day" (Isa. 58:10).  The Lord who said, "Let there be light," will speak us into sunshine.  Look by faith to Jesus, and you will see the light of God.
 
                        The Lord is my light; though clouds may arise,
                        Faith, stronger than sight, looks up to the skies
                        Where Jesus forever in glory doth reign:
                        Then how can I ever in darkness remain"
                        The Lord is my light, my joy, and my song;
                        By day and by night He leads me alone.
                                                        __James Nicholson
 
 
    MEDITATION PRAYER: "For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness" (Ps. 18:28).