“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
8:12.
There are times in our lives when we seem to walk in
perpetual darkness. I have encountered those seasons and I know as you read
this you have as well. Some of those seasons seem to pass quickly and
sometimes, unfortunately, they seem to go on forever. During those times in our lives, we have two
very distinct choices. We succumb to the darkness and let it overwhelm us, or
we tether ourselves even stronger to God and let the light overcome the
darkness.
That can be easier said than done,
though. I have a hard time trusting others and that can sometimes translate in
to failing to trust God. So I asked myself how did our Confederate ancestors,
during the war and reconstruction, resist the temptation to, as Job’s wife
lamented, “to curse God and die”?
They put their complete trust and faith in God. An example
comes from the Apostle Paul as he writes in Romans 4 that Abraham trusted God
when God told him he would be the father of many tribes and nations. Abraham
knew that such a thing was impossible at his age, but he put his complete faith
in the Lord and was rewarded. Abraham did this again years later when God told
Abraham to sacrifice his only son. He was again obedient to God and was again
rewarded for his trust and righteousness.
I will confess that as darkness has
seem to envelop our family of late, I have questioned what was God is doing in
my life? I may have passed my medical tests, but I failed my spiritual test.
Twice in recent weeks, the Lord has
put Peter on my mind. In the first instance, I was reminded of the book of
Matthew, verses 22-33, when Peter walked on the water to Jesus. He was fine at
first, almost with a child-like glee to be with his Lord. But, then, he began
to sink. Why? He took his eyes off of Jesus. Peter was fine when he kept
his eyes on Jesus, but when he looked down at the water, he began to sink. We do that in our lives as well. We are fine
as long as we keep our eyes on God. But when we fail to realize that God is
bigger than any problem we may have, we began to sink.
After I had much time in prayer and
reading of scripture, the Holy Spirit put Peter back in my mind once more. I
read John 21:15-17. Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times the night of his
trial and eventual crucifixion. Peter was demoralized and was certain that
Jesus would denounce him. Jesus loved the disciples, and Peter, especially.
Jesus went to Peter and asked him three times if Peter loved him. Each time
Peter answered “of course I do.” Jesus replied, “then feed my sheep. No
reprimand, no denouncement, just love and forgiveness. Jesus then commissioned
Peter and the other disciples as he does us. “Go and feed my sheep.” I believe
God put that scripture on my heart because He loves me and wanted me to know
that I was forgiven (as we all are) and that there was no time to feel sorry
for oneself because there is work to do!
“Go and feed
my sheep! “
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