Job 30:26-27 (NIV)
26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked
for light, then came darkness.
27 The churning inside me never stops;
days of
suffering confront me.
Years ago, after completing high school, a Christian girl
managed to break into the work force.
The first day of work showed her she was hardly ready to
deal with the things the "real world" was going to direct her way.
The lurid language of her fellow employees, the ungentle jokes of her boss as
well as the cruel comments made by almost everyone shocked her.
Shaken, she returned home and told her parents she wasn't
going back.
Before she had finished sharing her lament, her father
interrupted. It was something he seldom did. Dad asked, "Honey, where do
you put a light?"
She stumbled in her one-person rant, thought for a
second, and then decided to ignore what her father had asked. She continued to
tell her parents about what she had endured.
Her topic-changing father asked again: "Where do you
put a light?"
Exasperated, she replied, "Dad, what does that
question have to do with what I'm saying? What do you mean? You put a light
where it's dark."
"Good," said her dad.
Making use of the break in his daughter's litany of
offenses she had endured, he quickly continued: "Honey, the Lord has put
you into a place where you, a Christian, are being given the opportunity to
reflect the light of Jesus. You are to shine His light into a dark place. Go to
work tomorrow, and let His light be shown and shared with those folks in the
darkness, so they can see Jesus. Your mother and I shall pray that their
darkness will not undermine you or cause your witness of faith to
flicker."
What an insightful father.
Unlike the weak and wimpy dads who are shown on TV, real
Christian fathers have wisdom, insight, and a spirit of encouragement. For
example, this father knew Job was right when he had said evil and darkness come
and a man's life can be turned upside down by the cruelty of a sinful world.
But this Christian father also knew these things do not
have the final word. Jesus does.
That's the fact he shared with his daughter. Then this
particular father went one step further: he practiced what he was preaching; He
reflected the light of the Savior into the darkness his daughter had
encountered.
To counter and conquer the evil, the sin, the
circumstance, we have been given a Savior. His perfect life, His innocent
death, His victorious resurrection bring light and hope to defeat darkness and
discouragement.
Each and every day we are being given the opportunity to
reflect the light of Jesus. Lets show that light today.
Dear Lord, life can give us a fair share of nastiness.
Enough of that stuff long enough can make things pretty dark. Give us the grace
to see and walk in the light. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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