Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Yesterday I was on the phone with my wife on may way home from an errand, when I hit a spot where the sun blinded. In spiritual rhythm my wife said, “there’s your message for tomorrow, ‘blinded by the light’”

The Apostle Paul testifies in today’s scripture, Acts of the Apostles 22:6-11 (NLT)…
[6] “As I was on the road, approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. [7] I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ [8] “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’ [9] The people with me saw the light but didn’t understand the voice speaking to me. [10] “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’ [11] “I was blinded by the intense light and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions.

Consider…
When my wife highlighted the message that the Holy Spirit was giving me, I said that I didn’t know a scripture that aligned, to which she immediately reminded me of today’s familiar passage.

I see a couple of spiritual highlights that may be useful to know…

• Heaven’s light shines down AND around

Consider, just like me, the Apostle Paul wasn’t looking up into the sun when he was blinded, he was looking straight ahead. That shows, when God wants to get your attention, He will make His presence unmistaeably known.

• The Lord uses light to get your full attention
• The Lord speaks when He has your attention

This reminds me of a light show in Exodus 3:2-6 (NLT)…
[2] There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. [3] “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” [4] When the LORD saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. [5] “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. [6] I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

Notice, Moses saw a supernatural fire (light) first, and it was after he came closer that the LORD spoke.

• The final light shed on Paul’s Damascus, and Moses’ Burning Bush, Light encounter is the fact that LORD used His Light and voice reveal Himself

That makes me think of 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (NLT), which illuminates…
[6] For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. [7] We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

God shines His Light to help us hear and see who He is.

That reminds me Matthew 17:2-8 (NLT) where while on the Mount of Transfiguration it’s revealed…
[2] As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light. [3] Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. [4] Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” [5] But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” [6] The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. [7] Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” [8] And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.

Do you see it again, the Lit it up…

• face shone like the sun
• clothes became as white as light
• a bright cloud overshadowed them before He talked it out…
• a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.”

The LORD will make you unmistakeably aware of His presence before He tells you what He wants you to know.

If I were to put a superscript over these first illuminations, it would be, “the LORD blinds to reveal”.

I use those words because the following section reveals the fact that the LORD also blinds to conceal.

John 12:40-43 (NLT) says…
[40] “The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts— so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.” [41] Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory. [42] Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. [43] For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.

And in John 9:39-41 (NLT) we read…
[39] Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” [40] Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?” [41] “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

Something we don’t look acknowledge enough is the fact that God leans into and fortifies the true hearts of people.

Perhaps we don’t accept that truth because it sounds unloving and unmerciful. But one thing we miss in looking at our relationship with the Omnipotent God is He doesn’t override our will, meaning He does force us to love Him.

Understand…

• Paul was a zealous Pharisee, but his desire was uphold the holiness of God.
• Moses was a murderer, but he killed defending a Hebrew that was being brutally beaten.
• David was an adulterer and murderer, but he was a repentant man who loved and wanted to please God with all of his heart.
• Abraham was fearful and doubtful, but he trusted and obeyed God without questioning.

You see what we miss when we look at peoples actions, is God looks at the true hearts and motivations.

That what the Holy Spirit relayed through the prophet in Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NLT)…
[9] “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? [10] But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

Don’t miss the subtlety, God rewards deserved actions based on heart motives.

The scripture that comes to mind is James 4:1-6 (NLT)…
[1] What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? [2] You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. [3] And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. [4] You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. [5] Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. [6] And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Right in the middle of this spiritual treasure chest we see…
you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure

But the God didn’t stop there in His admonition delivered, the very next statement reveals why I believe God conceals….
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

The Holy Spirit just made it plain to me, who shares their plans with the enemy? Although the goal may be known, the plans are kept secret.

Speaking of God’s secrets, 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 (NLT) explains…
[10] But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. [11] No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. [12] And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

You see God only reveals His secrets to people who have received His Spirit.

Also, the Holy Spirit reminded me that Jesus explained in Matthew 13:11-13 (NLT)…
[11] He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. [12] To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. [13] That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.

That’s it, God speaks to everyone, but understanding/revelation is only given to those who are listening.

Accordingly, the issue isn’t who God is speaking to, it’s who’s listening and obeying!

To be clear, God’s goal and desire is that everyone is saved and spends eternity with Him, however in His omniscience, He knows that only a few want the same thing.

Still we understand via 2 Peter 3:9-10 (NLT)…
[9] The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. [10] But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

I cannot stress this enough, God wants everyone chose life with Him over death from living in sin. But, He won’t override the freewill He gave us.

Thus, as Jesus said in John 3:18-21 (NLT)…
[18] “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. [19] And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. [20] All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. [21] But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

The deciding factor between God’s justice and justification is our response to the Light of the world, Jesus Christ.

Make no mistake, on judgement day, Jesus will either exact justice on unrepentant unbelievers or enact justification for the redeemed recipients of God’s grace.

Therefore we must decide…

• like Paul, to fall down in reverence when we see Heaven’s blinding and revealing light all around us.
• like Moses, to approach in curiosity the supernatural fire God introduces Himself with
• like David, to be led by the light God sheds on our feet (our actions/sins) and path (the world/sin/evil around us)

That’s because the difference between God’s light revealing or concealing His secrets is the direction we go when we see it.

Let’s resolve, when we see the Light of the world to come to, rather than run from, Him! Our decision is God’s differentiator between Christ being revealed in, and to us or concealed from us.

Today’s song is…
I Saw The Light

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)