The Light of the Lord

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
1 Listen to me, you islands;
   hear this, you distant nations:
    Before I was born the LORD called me;
   from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
   in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
    he made me into a polished arrow
   and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
   Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
   I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
    Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s hand,
   and my reward is with my God.”

5 And now the LORD says—
   he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
    to bring Jacob back to him
   and gather Israel to himself,
    for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD
   and my God has been my strength—
6 he says:
    “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
   to restore the tribes of Jacob
   and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
    I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
   that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

7 This is what the LORD says—
   the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
    to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
   to the servant of rulers:
    “Kings will see you and stand up,
   princes will see and bow down,
    because of the LORD, who is faithful,
   the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (Isaiah 49:1-7, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
As a young man, I was shot in the eye with a BB gun. This injury, which came about while I was clowning around with my brother, launched me on an uncomfortable journey of visiting optometrists, ophthalmologists, glaucoma and retinal specialists. I underwent five surgeries and countless extensive eye exams. I grew to dread those exams. They involved bright lights, flash photography of my inner eye, and pressing my face into machines that made me dizzy and claustrophobic. These tests were often followed by invasive poking and probing. All of this was done in an attempt to manage my elevated eye pressure and ensure that I didn't lose vision in my injured eye. Bright lights. Aggressive searching. The loss of vision. The threat of blindness. 

In the book of Isaiah, in the Lord’s hands the prophet is often like an unwelcome probe, uncomfortably examining Israel’s spiritual vision, searching out signs of impending blindness. The light of the Lord, shone through the penetrating word delivered through Isaiah, causes a people walking in darkness to recoil, to want to run and hide. The Light searches out signs of spiritual disease, blurred vision, and blindness. The Light, uncomfortable and unwelcome at first, is God’s instrument of good. 

Spiritual blindness often comes on gradually; it’s an insidious creeping killer that can wreck our vision permanently. The routine searching of God’s word, the intrusive probing of its light—in the hands of the Great Physician—are instruments of health and healing, of hope and restoration. As God’s people, we need these routine eye exams. Without them , we can lose our sight. And without them, we lose our ability to shine God’s light to the nations. 


PRAYER:
God of light, search me and know me. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.


WHO AM I?
I am Tres Sansom, and I am grateful for good doctors and the wonders of modern medicine. But even more so, I'm grateful for the grace of God that restored vision to my injured eye.