Tuesday, January 8, 2013

God of light and darkness




Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.
Jeremiah 13:15-16

The God who makes light also makes the darkness fall around us. And it is passages like this that remind us that He can judge our stubborn rebellions just like He graciously pardons our repentant sinful hearts. If God were not serious about our rebel defiance, He would not be worthy of worship. The holiness of God demands holiness from us.

God warns those on a path to darkness. In the case of Israel and Judah they were warned and called to return to God's light before darkness fell on the twilight mountains. When it came, the darkness would fall quickly. And it does in the mountains. I have experienced a moonless night in the Rockies. And the last rays of a setting sun diminish instantly as the rocks shroud the mountaineer in a velvet cloak of nightfall. That is the kind of darkness sin will capture us in and bring us into the sorrows of judgment.

But the God Who warns is the God who reaches to the repentant heart. He can bring the dawn. He can lift up the fallen. He can bring light again to our path so that our feet no longer stumble.

Lord,
You create light and darkness. I know the dark days that my soul has felt in my disobedience and unbelief. In my worship of what was false, the twilight mountains swallowed me up. And I also know the warm day of Your grace breaking through when repentance was poured out to You. Keep me in Your light!
Amen.

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