Light to See By

One of the reasons I love Isaiah so much is that he speaks in pictures. By that I mean that what he teaches I often can see in my head in a picture. For example in Isaiah 50:11 Isaiah says, “Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.”

I’ve never done it myself, but I once watched my brother make a fire using flint and steel. It took awhile but as he struck the flint and steel together tiny sparks would fly from his hands and eventually they ignited the kindling he had gathered. But the sparks themselves were ever so small. In a dark room they might have looked bigger, but they still wouldn’t have been enough to generate light to see anything in the room let alone guide you along a dark path.

The picture I see when I read this verse is God on one side offering us the Light of Christ which shines like sun at noon day. This light brightly illuminates the dark path of life that all of us have to navigate in order to return to God. On the other side of the picture I see people (sometimes my stubborn self) turning their backs on the proffered sunlight and proudly working to strike flint and steel and make their own sparks to try to illuminate their way through the path of life. It is a lot of work to keep striking that flint and steel and yet they keep at it, smirks on their faces as they walk by way of the sparks they are creating. They are doing it their way and are so proud. Needless to say they get lost very fast!

When I catch myself leaving the realm of humility, I think of this picture and remember the words, “This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.” That brings me back to the Light!