Today’s Scripture Threshings for Friday, March 1, 2019
Today’s Text: Isaiah 60:1-7
Key Verse: ”Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (vs. 1, ESV)
I miss those days when we gathered at old fashioned camp meetings. Each night we had busy drills of prayer exploits till about 3am. Yet the camp timekeepers are known for their 5am daily cry of “arise and shine!” It was often uneasy for our wearied flesh to rise due to the rigors and drills of the night. The prophet Isaiah was God’s watchman of Israel’s new dawn. The nation has been through judgement which may best be described as a gloomy night. It would be better if it were only a drill. But no, the nation have been under terror and oppression under their enemies. It was so terrible time that they had thought that the Lord’s hand is shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear them.
Understanding this background is necessary for us to gain fuller appreciation for what Isaiah saw as light and glory. The people who were once upon a time riddled with the wreckage of sinfulness, and marked by the reproach of separation from their source were promised an end of darkness. They were promised a dawn of a brand new day; but only if they can rise from their pit of shame and from the gloom of their night. The prophet had declared in previous chapter how their iniquity separates them from God, and from the light of His blessings. But the good news is that they may arise from gloom and pass into the glamor of divine light.
Men who refuse to lay in sin’s despondency, but rise up to God’s only begotten Son will shine in His saving light. Even while darkness afflicts the earth, the Lord will shine upon those who seek Him. Are you ready to escape the plagues of darkness and shine in the gospel light? Then, why not say the prodigal “I will arise” to the beckon of divine light? Staying down, you’d see defeat and damnation; but rising from the dust, you’d see Zion’s lost fortunes restored. As we begin a new month today, will you continue the prostrate grope in the darkness of sin or are you ready to yield the loving command to rise up and shine?
Quote for the Day: “Sin leaves people prostrate in the dust, and covers them up in thick darkness that they cannot rise. But when the light of salvation in embrace, they’d not only rise in victory; they’d shine in the Lord’s glorious light.” (Simon Olatunji)
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for forgiving us. Thank you for not abandoning us to our dusts, but for reaching out instead to lift us up. Thank you for convicting me of sin and helping me accept your mercy without shame. Help me rise in the power of that love today. In Jesus Christ name. Amen.
With all my Love and Prayer,
Simon Wale Olatunji, PhD
The Darling Bishop (DaBishop),
2321 S Belt Line Rd., Suite 144,
Grand Prairie TX 75051 USA
Email: reachingout@hopeforallnations.org
BBMme: E3F988D2
[Today’s Scripture Threshings is a devotional guide of The House of Prayer Evangel Church USA. Feel free to use it in your family altar and personal quiet times; and to contact us for further enquiry, help and partnership.]
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