August 10 2015

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
Psalm 91:1-8

“The psalmist understood the connection between fear and darkness, but he also knew that God is greater than those fears. He wrote, “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness” (Ps. 91:5-6). Neither terrors of night nor evil in the darkness need to drive us to fear. We have a God who sent His Son, the Light of the World (John 8:12).”
“Our Daily Bread” devotion for July 6, 2015

Several months ago there was an internet sensation that came in the form of a dress. A woman had posted a picture of a dress she had purchased for an upcoming wedding, and instantly it caused some confusion, if not some intense arguments. Some people, when they looked at the dress, well they see it as white with gold stripes. Others see the dress as blue with black stripes. Why, so many people argued, did we not all see the dress the same? How could this be? In one afternoon, as I read an article about the dress and this interesting phenomenon, one moment I saw the dress as blue and black, and the next, it looked white and gold. The inconsistency suggests that the dress is a new type of perceptual phenomenon previously unknown to scientists.

The answer to this conundrum seems to come in the discovery of a new problem — the brain’s color-processing mechanisms which may vary from one person to the next, and can depend on prior experiences. And after more studies, it was also determined that the dress can look differently in the context of shade versus direct sunlight. In other words, more light changes things.

This is true with the light of Christ. The more light we live in, the more our lives are changed — changed for the better. If we stay away from the light of Christ, then our lives are changed for the worse, not the better. But when we live in the light of Christ, then we can see how things are supposed to be — and then do something about it.

Pastor Dave