by Bible League International

Verse of the Day and Devotion

"Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace." - Luke 1:78-79 NLT

Devotion

You wouldn't have known it from looking at us. On the surface, we looked fairly normal. We looked like everything was just fine. Despite how we looked, we were in deep trouble. In what way were we in trouble? Figuratively speaking, we were in the dark. We couldn't see which way to go in life. To be sure, we thought we could see. We were filled with all sorts of ideas and plans about what we should do and where we should go. Despite our certainty, we were actually in the dark. We were headed straight for the shadow of death and didn't even know it.

If we had been left to our own devices, we would have continued walking in the dark. Even though the shadow of death loomed up before us, getting darker and darker as we walked along, we would have continued in the way we were going. The good news, however, is that we weren't left to our own devices. The tender mercy of God stepped in to our situation and gave us what we needed. It gave us light. The morning light from heaven broke in upon us and revealed to us our sorry state. It revealed we were in the dark and headed straight for the shadow of death.

You ask, "What is the morning light?" It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the good news that Jesus Christ, God incarnate, was born of a woman, lived the sinless life we should have lived, paid the penalty of death that we should have paid, was buried and rose from the dead, and is now ruling and reigning over all things at the right hand of God the Father. It is the good news that believing in Jesus and submitting to His rule releases us from the darkness and from the shadow of death. In other words, it's the best news that anyone could ever receive.

Now, we walk in the light. We can see where we're going. We're going where Jesus is going. (Matthew 16:24) We're following Him to the green meadows and peaceful streams of life. (Psalm 23:2) Although there may be some dark valleys along the way (Psalm 23:4), it's a path of peace. It's a path of peace, fulfillment, and flourishing in every area of life, and in the life to come.