Advent - Day 4

It's Day 4 of our journey through the season of Advent. Thank you so much to everyone who's joined me so far - I hope that you're learning as much as I am from these Scriptures!

Today’s Bible reading is Luke 1: 76 - 79 ...

“And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”

I love the imagery in these verses, where the Messiah is compared to the morning light, or sunrise. Jesus Himself confirms this metaphor when He declares in John 8: 12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

In South Africa, we frequently experience something called "loadshedding". This is the term for planned electricity outages which occur when our national electricity supplier is unable to produce enough energy to supply the grid.

When loadshedding happens at night, it can be particularly frustrating, and downright painful, if you've forgotten what time the power's going off and you get caught without matches in your hand or your cellphone torch ready to turn on. Several times in the past few weeks I've yelled to my kids: "Everybody freeze! Just stand still where you are, while I find a candle or a torch, and then I'll come to you guys!" (Because that's what moms do - I'll bump my shins and stub my toes stumbling in the dark, but at least there's only one us tripping over stuff!!)

Today’s Scripture reading made me think of loadshedding ... without Christ, the people in the world are either stuck, not knowing where to go or what to do, or they're stumbling "blindly", looking for meaning and fulfillment in painful, unhelpful activities and philosophies.

But when the Gospel is heard, and the need for a Saviour is clear, He is like the dawn, bringing Truth, Hope, Freedom, and Light into people's lives and hearts and understanding!

From the shadow of death, Jesus leads us into the way of peace (Romans 5: 17). When the "Dayspring from on high" visits the human heart, darkness and fear and despair must flee!

Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You left the perfection of Heaven in order to make Your home among us, in order that we might have "the Light of Life".