Monday 12 April 2010

Like when the sun comes out


"Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD! But let those who love Him be like the sun When it comes out in full strength." So the land had rest for forty years. – Judges 5v31

As I sit here in my office at about 7.00 in the morning the sun is just about to come out. It is going to be another bright and warm day. There is nothing like springtime in Ireland. We have had a long, cold, wet, dark winter. In other words, it was a normal Irish winter. We had started to think that we were going to miss spring.

Then, about 3 days ago, and just in time for Ronnie and Beth’s wedding ceremony, things changed. The sun came out in all its springtime brilliance. All of a sudden everyone was happy. People were out walking. Smiles abounded and cheerful spirits took control. The doom and gloom was suddenly gone, if even for a few days. The wedding was beautiful. The pictures are fantastic. All of this happened just because the sun came out. What a difference it makes when that happens!

I had never noticed this picture before today. As we noted yesterday Israel was trapped in this horrendous cycle of sin. In the middle of this we find a ray of hope in Deborah’s victory song. At the end of that song we get this wonderful word picture. ‘Let your enemies perish Lord, but let those of us who love You be like the sun when it comes out in full strength.’

I can’t help but to compare that with the effect of the sun coming out in full strength in Ireland. It turned everything around. Everything changed in just a matter of days. I have to ask myself if that is the kind of impact I have around people? Do we, his people today, impact the world like the sun when ‘it comes out in all its strength?’

My heart is challenged. As we head out on at least one more beautiful Irish spring day I trust that I can be like the sun as its brings hope and joy to a cold dark world.

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