FORWARD into LIGHT

JANUARY 5, 2023

Numbers 8:1-3

The LORD said to Moses, 2“Tell Aaron that when he sets up the seven lamps in the lampstand, he is to place them so their light shines forward.” 3So Aaron did this. He set up the seven lamps so they reflected their light forward, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

 

Have you noticed that the scripture story, and the history and events it describes are going somewhere, they are moving God’s story of revelation forward. Repeatedly God’s word encourages us to have hope for what is ahead. We experience this during Advent and Christmas, when we both look back at the Old Testament scriptures of the past, and at the same time we read them with our eye on the future. That is what fills us with such hope as we light candles and sing songs like “Hark! The Glad Sound the Savior Comes”, or the longing and hope and promise in one of our favorites “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”.

We witness this forward emphasis in God’s instructions to Moses regarding Tabernacle worship in the Old Testament. It is fascinating that God told Moses to have Aaron position the lamps in the Tabernacle in such a way that the light was projected forward, not backward. (Details are important to God) There certainly are lessons here for us––life principles we need to understand and embrace.



Here are a few:



· God’s light is found when we look forward, not backward.



· God has something positive ahead for us––His light is drawing us to our future, not to our past.



· God’s light always goes before us.



· We are invited to live with a forward-focus.


God lights our way. Psalm 119:105 reminds us that God’s “word is a lamp for our feet, a light on our path..” Psalm 27 says “The LORD is my light and my salvation” Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” When with the Apostle Paul we determine to “forget what is behind and press on into what is ahead” we find and experience that the past, is just that, past. When we decide to walk in the light we journey in hope. From God’s perspective, yesterday’s experiences whether they are great moments or moments we would like to forget, do not need to be an obstacle that keep us from pursuing and knowing the thrilling future full of great promise(s) that God has for us. One of the special verses that I often call to memory that helps me stay focused on looking ahead is found in Isaiah 43:18-19 where God says through the prophet “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness.” So, let us lean into “Forward Living.”



“God today I pray, that you would help me to know that your light shines ahead of me. I ask that you help me stop wasting time, energy and focus on what is behind me. Help me to turn my focus to what you have ahead for me. I thank you that your light illumines a path for my future. Help me to daily walk in your light. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”