Testify to the Light – Isaiah 9:1-4

A text – Isaiah 9:1-4

9 But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

² The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.
³ You have multiplied exultation; you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.
⁴ For the yoke of their burden and the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

A reflection:

If you read Monday’s devotion on the gospel of Matthew’s story about how Jesus’s ministry began, you recall that Jesus went about teaching and living out the kingdom of God, making people’s lives better, healing their sicknesses of all kinds and giving them hope that their heavenly father never forgets them and is always with them.

This passage of early Isaiah does much the same thing. It tells of a time after God had seemed far away, after there had been great darkness in people’s lives. Isaiah says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.” Then Isaiah gives examples of times people rejoice – become jubilant. These are moments when the Kingdom of God comes near and the joy of heaven breaks into the earth where we can all see it.

Perhaps times of darkness are the best times to notice the Kingdom of God breaking through – it’s the contrast of light and dark that makes the light so good, so renewing, so hopeful. Haven’t you seen and felt it for yourself – when you are the most disappointed or fearful, the inbreaking of a beam of light that you can see and feel, showing you that light comes back after darkness, that darkness does not ever overcome light? Darkness will never have the last word.

In my retirement I’ve taken up the work of funeral celebrancy. The stories people relish, especially at the time of the death of a loved one gone too soon, are the stories when that person was the light that overcame darkness, when that person brought joy and laughter in a time of struggle. Everything we do in this life that we are given that is filled with joy and can be remembered by our loved ones will testify to that hope for them, so they will know there will be light very soon again, just around the corner. Be the light for one another at least once today. When you are, you are testifying to the Kingdom of God that wins over darkness ever time.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us witnesses to your Light. Help us to be those witnesses for others as we go through times that seem very dark. Amen.