Christmas Light

Thanks for joining us for another daily encouragement from Our Daily Bread. It was written by Lisa M. Samra, and she titled it Christmas Light. To my eyes, the Christmas tree looked to be ablaze in fire, not because of artificial strings of lights, but from real fire.

Our family was invited to a friend's Alte Deutsch tradition, or the Old German Way, a celebration featuring delicious traditional desserts and a tree with real lit candles. For safety, the freshly cut tree was lit one night only. As I watched the tree appear to burn, I thought of Moses' encounter with God in the burning bush. While tending sheep in the wilderness, Moses was surprised by a flaming bush that was somehow not consumed by the flames. As he approached the bush to investigate, God called to him. The message from the burning bush was not one of judgment, but of rescue for the people of Israel. God had seen the plight and misery of his people who were enslaved in Egypt and had come down to rescue them. While God rescued the Israelites from the Egyptians, all of humanity still needed rescue, not just from physical suffering, but also from the effects that evil and death brought into our world.

Hundreds of years later, God responded by sending down the light, his Son, Jesus, sent not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Our scripture reading today is from Exodus chapter 3, verses 4 through 10. When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, Moses, Moses. And Moses said, Here I am. Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.

So now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus, the light of the world, to save all of humanity. Please lay a burden on our hearts today to share your love with others so that they may know what Jesus has done for them and believe. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Alisha Reisinger, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.