Ensign: Our Insufficient Light

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 11 July 2014

About a month into the comic strip Dilbert, creator Scott Adams thought about introducing Satan as a character. In 1989 when he proposed this, he was talked out of it by his comic strip's syndicator – you know, the person representing the company that makes the comics that appear in your morning paper the comics that appear there. In today's moral morass, which we could say has significantly increased in fifteen years, you might see Satan as a comic or cartoon character somewhere for all I know.

Anyway, as an alternative and ultimately someone who would not “damn you to hell” but rather “darn you to heck”, Adams introduced a dumpy man wearing a red devil suit and bearing a head-high spoon (or pitchfork, depending on the mood Adams is in when he draws it) who introduced himself to Dilbert as Phil, The Prince of Insufficient Light. He's eventually worked into the strip and turns out to be the brother of Dilbert's boss … but that's a story for another day.

By the way, “prince of darkness” as a title for Satan occurs nowhere in Scripture. (That's from John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost; the closest the Word of God comes is “prince of this world” in John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11, “prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2, and I would argue “disputer of this world” in the sense of “arguer for the things of this world” in 1 Corinthians 1:20 as well.) But – behold the underlying truth – we're not called to be darkness! We're called to be light.

NOT because we're possessed of an abundance of it! When Jesus God's Son referred to Himself as “the light of the world” – He does this twice in John 8:12 and 9:5 – He was calling out what those who follow Him are going to be doing. He even foreshadows this in the Sermon on the Mount when He says in Matthew 5:14, “Ye [the seventeenth century “You all”] are the light of the world.” Just a thought – everybody listening to Jesus then was likely not acknowledging His Father as their God.

But they were, and we are, all children of God by the fact that we are part of His creation. (The references are replete to this.) It's a matter of do we acknowledge that, have we made the choice to bear the light we do have in the world? Even a basic knowledge of science should tell you it only takes a tiny bit of light to drive out a lot of darkness. (Turn on the light in your house early morning sometime.) OUR light isn't sufficient, but with Jesus walking beside us it's more than enough!

Like fireflies to a star,

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager to action too! If you find that I'm not or you want me to get lost, just let me know -- thank you!

Thank You, Lord, that we can come to You in prayer and that You provide for all our needs, even when we don't know what they are. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence there and around the world.

Thank You, Lord, for everyone in leadership and service, both here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have and the promise of new life! I pray that we all seek and have a blessed week. Amen.