Hope for My Restless Soul

Too much anxiety that I couldn't sleep. So I come downstair and check the Word for comfort. And this is what I found...

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD. (Isaiah 60:1-6)

Isn't that neat?

This text was the prophecy accompanying the fact that the wise men saw the star and came and worship Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrh. But this text also brought a lot of hope for my soul.

Yes, indeed darkness is covering the earth and thick darkness is covering the people. From the physical death and proverty of the asian tsunami there to the spiritual death and proverty of the soul tsunami here. It's something God knew about, "for darkness shall cover..." But the command of God is "arise, and shine" because "your light has come" and "the glory of the LORD has risen upon you".

If Jesus, the light of the world, had shine a light into our life, then we will need to respond by arise and shine to reflect His light to the darkness around us. We are going to take a special offering for tsunami relief at the conference this weekend. That's for the physical problem there. And for the spiritual problem here, the Word of God continue to promise the eternal hope for our generation: "Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn."

Nations! That includes the Vietnamese, who grow-up and live in the US. Kings! That includes the next generations of leaders who will go forth from them.

And God reminded me, "Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms." The problem is the failure to see. If I was to believe that the surrounding world was in darkness, then what's there to see? What's there to look around? But with the eyes of faith in God, that "[His] light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon [me]" then there will be a motive to look and to see.

If the faith above couples with obedience to "arise, and shine" then the result will be eminent in God's timing. Right now, all I can see is that "they all gather together, they come to [Christ]"; but in the future, there will be the whole generation of sons and daughters will arise out of the gathering. The following future-tense verses describe the glorious and joyful scene of that promised reality; that "[they] shall proclaim the praise of the LORD".

Yes Lord, fulfill your promise soon! Come quickly!