Be Still

Last week my husband and I were able to go to the beach for a couple of nights without kids. Don’t get me wrong, we love our kids but a couple of nights and days without parenting responsibilities was quite refreshing and quiet!   

Over and over again I was reminded of Psalm 19:1-2.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.² Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.”

As the sun set the first evening and the full moon rose over the water in deep orange and red hues I was reminded of the parallel of the church reflecting the light of Jesus like the moon reflects the light of the sun.  As the moon rose there were dark clouds in front of it, but I could see little glimpses of the moon behind them and light permeating any little opening and could tell it was beautiful.  I wanted to see the entire thing— I knew a small portion would not do it justice.  I asked God if he would part the clouds so I could see it and, in his kindness, he did for a moment, and it was in fact breathtakingly beautiful. 

I felt like the sky was a picture of where we are in this hour.  There are many dark clouds trying to hide the light of Jesus in the world, to cover up the brightness of the believers but God’s light will always shine brighter.  It permeates every possible opening, and the darkness cannot overcome it.  As John 1:4-5 so wonderfully states, “⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcomeit.”

Jesus is the light of all mankind, as much as we feel the darkness pressing in as believers in Christ we know the end. We know that nothing can overcome his light. There are still so many searching for light, so many that do not know who the true light is.  My prayer is that God’s people will come together and truly reflect who he is in this hour so our light shines brighter. The same prayer that Jesus prayed shortly before he went to the cross. 

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23)

It is funny how everything we face in this life as followers of Christ seems to be resolved when we ABIDE in him. 

Let us live today in the glory that we were given so we can live as one, brought to complete unity so the world will know his love.