The Guessing Game

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.  Isaiah 60:1-3

I love it when my wife and I play the guessing game.  We will throw something out there (usually something like “Guess what our daughter did?”) and then we will proceed to ask yes/no questions to eventually figure out what the answer is.  When we were younger, it took a while to figure out what the other was talking about, but as we have grown, we have gotten good at knowing what the other was talking about.

As Christians, we are growing in our relationship with God to know what is of God versus what is either our own wish or ungodly.  It takes time to know, and the best way to figure it out is through reading His word.  There are times we may wrestle with what it is saying, and not all of that is bad.  Sometimes, it is a matter of applying wisdom when you know one thing supersedes another (ex. Loving your enemies because what you perceive as an enemy may indeed be someone God has use for).  Nonetheless, God always provides guidance as to what His will is and how best we can proceed.

God’s word can be trusted because it always provides reference to its truth.  I was reading Ephesians 5 and my focus was on verse 14 which said, “This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.””  When studying this further, it led me to the verses above.  This is further connected to words of Jesus in His famous comments about ‘The Light,’ where He says:

You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

I mention these because as I read today’s verses, they are all intertwined, and it really focuses on Jesus’ role as the light.  As Isaiah spoke to the Jews, I wonder if they were buying into what he was saying.  Those who did would have grown in their faith knowing the true Messiah was soon to come and would have known who Jesus was much like Peter did.  Thus, Isaiah is a virtual ‘hint’ of the many things to come.  Those who knew who God was then I’m sure told people what to look for when Jesus came, and thus, became the earliest believers when they noticed the earliest hints laid out by Isaiah here and throughout his writings (ex. Isaiah 9:6 - For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”).

It is important that we understand who God is, and that is only possible through reading and understanding scripture.  This enables us to tune out those things that are not of God and incorporate those things that represent Him.  That helps us grow in our faith and makes us better representatives of it.  Let us make sure to study God’s word closely so that we understand His expectations of us.  Where might you need to dig deeper into God’s word?  What does God do to ensure you're paying attention to Him?  My prayer is that we know God well enough to be certain of His expectations when playing the guessing game.  Amen.