Out of the Shadows

For the light shines in the darkness and is not overcome by it.

For you shall be my contrast, my point of difference, my light and shade.

You shall stand out from the background.

For that which is in the background shall be a blur for you.

I am moving it out of focus, far away, beyond your perception.

I am pushing back that which is in the foreground to the background.

To you it feels close and yet when you put it in a frame, in my frame, frame it like I do, you shall see and observe how far away it really is.

You feel the containment, the confinement, like the mountains are so close and yet they are so far away.

I have pushed them back, yes I have pushed them back.

They make a great backdrop don’t you think?

For the mountain climbing is behind you.

The days of the ups and downs are behind you.

Are you getting the picture?

See I have placed you in the foreground and the mountains in the background.

For this shall be a new experience.

For I am still with you in the valley, yet without shadow.

For you shall come out of the shadows.

For you shall be more than a shadow of your former self.

For in you I have placed my glory.

Yes I have placed my glory within you.

When I look at you, “glorious” is what is on the tip of my tongue!

For this is the valley of harvest.

Behold the winter is past and the rain has gone, the brightness of my glory shines upon you.

Isaiah 49:1-11 LISTEN TO me, O isles and coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb; from the body of my mother He has named my name. And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand has He hid me and made me a polished arrow; in His quiver has He kept me close and concealed me. And the Lord said to me, You are Myservant, Israel you who strive with God and with men and prevail, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in empty futility; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense is with my God. And now, says the Lord—Who formed me from the womb to be His servant to bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him and not be swept away, for I am honorable in the eyes of the Lord and my God has become my strength— He says, It is too light a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of the judgments of Israel; I will also give you for a light to the nations, that My salvation may extend to the end of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, Israel’s Holy One, to him whom man rejects and despises, to him whom the nations abhor, to the servant of rulers: Kings shall see you and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, Who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, Who has chosen you. Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable and favorable time I have heard and answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you; and I will preserve you and give you for a covenant to the people, to raise up and establish the land from its present state of ruin and to apportion and cause them to inherit the desolate moral wastes of heathenism, their heritages, Saying to those who are bound, Come forth, and to those who are in spiritual darkness, Show yourselves come into the light of the Sun of righteousness. They shall feed inall the ways in which they go, and their pastures shall be not in deserts, but on all the bare grass-covered hills. They will not hunger or thirst, neither will mirage mislead or scorching wind or sun smite them; for He Who has mercy on them will lead them, and by springs of water will He guide them. And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways will be raised up.

Did I not say I would transform you from worm to harrow, from insect to iron?

So why so surprised that you would find yourself upon this vast plain?

For it was I that placed these words upon your mothers lips

“take the best of your heritage, stay on the path, for you will have ups and downs, but soon you shall find yourself on a great plateau with a view”

For I want to make it plain, yes I have made this plain.

For your days of mountain climbing are over!

Is this not the time of harvest?

”You give me everything I need”

For behold the day of glory has come, yes the day of glory is here.

For I will make you shine brighter than the sun!

For you expect to find the light shining upon the hill, upon the pinnacle, and yet my glory shines in the darkest place, in the valley of the shadow, casting out the shadow, killing the shadow, rendering it no more.

For you expect the mountains, the sun, the moon to provide the contrast, and yet I have placed this power within you.

2 Kings 20:8-11 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord on the third day? And Isaiah said, This is the sign to you from the Lord that He will do the thing He has promised: shall the shadow denoting the time of day go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps? Hezekiah answered, It is an easy matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps; so let the shadow go back ten steps. So Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and He brought the shadow the ten steps backward by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.

You are my contrast, you bring light and shade, you bring definition, you bring salt and light.

John 1:4-5 In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it.