The Light of Messiah

God said let there be light and the light was good.

Years ago I home-schooled my six children. We were coming to a place in science where they would be learning about the speed of light.  As I was preparing for the lesson, I anxiously asked the Lord how I would explain this based on the six days of creation.

Never had I doubted the Word of God, but here I was confronted with scientific fact that seemed to contradict the story of creation.  I fretted over this because I didn’t want to teach my kids something that would lead them away from faith in God and the dependability of His Word.

I could almost see the pitying look on my Father’s face.  You know, the kind of look a dad has when his little child is worrying and fretting over the silliest little thing?  That’s what I sensed coming from my Dad as He nudged me to read the story of creation.

And of course, there it was plain as day (pun intended).  

On the first day, God created the light.  It wasn’t until the fourth day that He created the physical source of the light.  So it all made perfect sense and in no way contradicted what I would be teaching the kids about the speed of light.  In fact, it strengthened my ability to teach them that faith in God is a sure thing.

But wait, there’s more!  Here I am some 20 years later still discovering wonders in this light of creation.

Thanks to First Fruits of Zion’s Torah Club, I have access to some of the teachings and understanding of the sages and rabbis.  According to Rabbi Eleazer, the light God created was a “miraculous, wondrous light, independent of a luminary.”  

Now this was the very thing God showed me.  But as I read it this week, it got me to thinking about John’s Revelation where he tells us that there is no need for the sun and moon because Messiah is the source of the light – the miraculous light.  So the light that began in creation will once more shine brightly in the kingdom of Messiah on earth.  (And as FFOZ’sTorah Club 2 points out, “‘Light’ is one of the names of Messiah.”)

My old 'suitcase'

All this culminated this morning as I pulled out one of my old bibles – mainly because it has large print and my eyes were acting their age.  There, in my old tattered ‘suitcase’, as if to confirm all that the Lord has been teaching me, was a bookmark at John 8 with verse 12 underlined. It is there that Jesus Himself boldly announces, “I am the light of the world.”  

It just doesn’t get any clearer than that.

My Suitcase?

Did you ever have a pastor say something to you that you weren’t quite sure how to take?  I did.  About a year ago I had the opportunity to meet with my pastor to discuss a decision I needed to make.  As we were getting settled in, he referred to my bible as ‘that suitcase’.  At the time I wasn’t sure what he meant by that.  

Now before you go judging the pastor, you should know that my bible is often stuffed full of papers, notes, bookmarks and even drawings from my granddaughter. When I looked at his bible, it seemed very neat by comparison.  So was it an insult?

Knowing the pastor, I don’t believe it was.  But I must admit it often bothered me.

Then yesterday, I was thinking about my upcoming trip to Israel and what I would need to buy, how much I would need to pack.  I usually travel light when I go away, but I’ve never been out of the country before, and never traveled for 11 days.  As I was mulling this over (with my first cup of coffee starting to clear away the brain fog that greets me each day) I pulled out my bible.   As often happens, I remembered the pastors words and suddenly a light bulb went off in my head!  My bible really IS my suitcase!

Think about it – as believers, we live on this earth as sojourners, traveling through this world until we can go home to our own country.  Like any traveler, we carry around the bare essentials we need to get through the journey.  And that’s exactly what the Word of God is.  It is everything we need to get through each day we are away from home!

So whether that pastor meant his remark as a dig, or more likely a tongue-in-cheek observation, he was absolutely right.  My bible is my suitcase.  And so is yours.  Whether it is simple and neat or stuffed full of all sorts of placeholders, it has everything we need to get through every day we are away from home.

How Could They Grow Cold in the Land of Plenty?

We often wonder how the Israelites, who walked closely with God in the wilderness, saw all His miracles, ate of nnected with the God who loves me too much to let me stay away from Him. ck into ministry, but above all, I'em, I need fiHis manna and had all their daily needs provided, could turn cold once in the land of plenty.

The other day I watched 'The Appointed Times: Jesus in the Feasts of Israel' with Michael Brown, Avner Boskey and Michael Rydelnik. It is a video about the feasts of the Lord, but as I watched, something jumped out at me.  Helen Frenkley, former Director of Biblical Landscape Reserve, described what the land of Israel was like.  She pointed out that Israel’s only source of water is rainfall, and that it only rains from November to March – at best.  All the water needs of the country – for the entire year – are dependent on the rainfall of just these few months.

This is the land that God said flowed with milk and honey.  Yet it is completely dependent on rain fall.  No rain, no crops. No rain, no drinking water.  So God blessed the people of Israel with a land that caused them to stay close to Him for their sustenance – just like in the dessert, but with more freedom to conduct their daily lives.

This got me to thinking about my own life.  For several years I was a field merchandiser working part-time for several companies.  Every morning I spent a lot of time with my heavenly Father.  We talked about life, about my needs, about what He wanted me to accomplish for that day.  He always provided lots of jobs and I never went without.

Then I got a position as a salaried manager. And each day saw a decline in the time I spent with my Dad and more time I invested in my job.  And then I stepped away from ministry, and eventually even my family took a backseat to the call of my career.

About a year ago I got a wake-up call.  I had done very well with the company and was promoted to upper management.  But as I said – God, family, friends and ministry all took a backseat to the job.  After the promotion, I spent 15 months doing nothing but work.  I stopped going to church, stopped talking to people, didn’t even call my mother to say hello.  The only people I spoke to or seemed to care about were my fellow employees.  My conversation, once full of stories of God’s miracles, was now peppered with expletives and centered on nothing but work. 

Then the axe fell.  

The company, that lauded my originality and enthusiasm, was no longer happy with my performance and demoted me.  After all that investment of time and energy, one quick decision wiped away 15 months of my life.  It was then that I realized work is nothing but shifting sand.  It is the Lord that matters.

And that’s when I realized how easy it is to be like the Israelites, and before I stand in judgment of them - or wonder how they could so easily turn away from God - I need to first take a look at my own life.

I am still in management, but have put the job back in its proper place.  I returned to fellowship with believers, reconnected with my family and friends, and am back in ministry. But above all, I’ve reconnected with the God who loves me too much to abandon me to my own folly.