God Speaking

And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.”

(Genesis 1: 3 – 4)

On Thanksgiving morning our Pastor gave us a sermon on gratitude, and he took a verse from Thessalonians to deepen our understanding of what that meant. I have always found the verse he chose difficult, so I was intrigued from the beginning to see how he would he illuminate it. 

“Be joyful always; pray constantly; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18)

Even the first sentence seems impossible to do, but when we think what the joy of knowing who Jesus is, it provides us with comfort and ability to keep going. Praying constantly also seems a stumbling block but again it also has an underlying message. God is constant, so prayer is always available to us! No matter where we are, be that in a crowded mall or a workplace, we don’t need to speak aloud to pass our concerns along to the Heavenly Father. The last phrase has always been the hardest for me to grasp. Our Pastor finally solved this one for me. If we look carefully at the words, we see that we are not thanking God “for the bad things that happen” we are finding something to thank him for during those stressful times.  

I recently read some fascinating words from a Canadian singer that really spoke to me, warning us not to expect a perfect life but to look for what upsets do to our wellbeing, and look for that light that surprises us by giving purpose to what is happening 

Ring the bells that still will ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in

For those of us who follow Jesus, that light is Jesus Christ!

When Jesus spoke again to the people. He said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8: 5)

The first gift God gave to mankind was light (Genesis 1: 3 – 4) 

This word is written countless times in Scripture and tributed to God,  

“You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning, my God turns my darkness into light.” (Psalm 18: 28)

Sometimes we think that a perfect life is up to us to achieve. We start building it and discover cracks form in what we thought was built just right. Then we decide life is not perfect. This idea that we have failed creates all sort of despair, this is exactly when we need to look for the light, which is always close by in the form of the Holy Spirit who is ready to guide us, counsel us, set our feet on the right path to recover, but we must acknowledge Him to receive that help. When we do, we can really give thanks “in” all circumstances.