Monday, August 15, 2005

A Light Unto Our Path

I've been reading an interesting book called Frankenstein as a part of the King's summer reading. It's a woman named Mary Shelley, and I think most of you know the basic story. A scientist named Victor Frankenstein manages to create a living being who thinks and acts and speaks and for all practical purposes is human. The beast he created, however, is horrificly ugly, seemingly without conscience, and apparently bent on making Victor miserable. Victor is definitely not pleased with the outcome of his life's work, and is filled with guilt, disappointment, remorse, etc. One night while sitting on the ground he says: "No distinct ideas occupied my mind; all was confused. I felt light, and hunger, and thirst, and darkness; innumerable sounds rang in my ears, and on all sides various scents saluted me; the only object that I could distinguish was the bright moon, and I fixed my eyes on that with pleasure." Immediately after I read this I thought about God and his goodness to us in hard times.

We can go through situations that may seem pretty difficult. I for one am very uncertain concerning how this whole summer reading thing is going to turn out. College preparation is weighing down on me. Even while these things may seem uncertain and confusing, I can always look to God as the light in which I take pleasure. Psalm 119:105 says: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Life is not predictable, and in the fallen world everything seems to always be changing (and not for the better) or out of our control. It's great to be able to rely on a God who is unchanging (Psalm 90:2) and will always be good to us (Psalm 119:68) and love us (2 Thessalonians 2:16). God will always be there to light our way
(Isaiah 60:20) and bring us hope (Psalm 39:7). If there is something I have learned in my comparatively few years alive, it's that God will always work it out for good. We may not know how, but God does. I still haven't learned to completely trust Him with every situation yet - I like knowing! But knowing lets me rely on myself and not Him. He is trustworthy (Psalm 89:33) - what do we have to worry about?

Psalm 90:2 - "Before the mountains were brought forth,Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."
Psalm 119:68 - "You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes."
2 Thessalonians 2:16 - "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace"
Isaiah 60:20 - "Your sun shall no longer go down, Nor shall your moon withdraw itself; For the LORD will be your everlasting light, And the days of your mourning shall be ended."
Psalm 39:7 - "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You."
Psalm 89:33 -
"Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail."

Look upon God with pleasure.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Evan,

This post was really encouraging that God will be a light to our path! I like how you used the verses in what you were saying and then wrote them out below! This is definitely a blog worth recommending and I hope your college prep won't keep you completely from it. I am confident that through God's goodness and strength you will overcome The King's Academy summer reading schedule!

AK said...

Great thoughts Evan! Funny, I remember that scene from Frankenstein well...great analogy about how we can trust the Lord. Stay strong on the reading!