The sunrise miracle

Last week I was in Cornwall watching the sun rising, shattering the darkness, and I remembered these words spoken at the birth of Jesus,

 Because of the tender mercy of our God, the rising sun has come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the paths of peace.  Luke 1:78-79

Every sunrise brings the miracle of sight to the blind, black and white gives way to colour. We don’t have to stumble in the dark.

Habakkuk says that the splendour of the Lord is like a sunrise (Habakkuk 3:4).

This is not merely aesthetic beauty. Glorious as my sunrise was in Cornwall, it didn’t change the injustice in the world, but there is a beautiful promise in 2 Samuel 23:4, “The one who rules in righteousness is like the light of morning at sunrise”.

As we head towards Easter, walking with Christ to the Cross, Malachi tells us that the Son of righteousness will rise with healing on his wings! (Malachi 4:2). What an astounding promise given long before the first Easter!

It is a promise that fulfils the blessing that I love so dearly in Numbers 6, that God would make his face shine upon us. We can live daily in the knowledge that God Almighty delights over us, that his face is lit up with love as he gazes upon us.

That sunrise of righteousness and peace begins in individual hearts as step by step, we find that Jesus, our Saviour,  lights up our darkness and guides us in paths of peace until the day when all darkness will flee.

If today you are in darkness, if today you need healing, if today you want to walk in paths of peace, remember the Sonrise.