The following is an excerpt from our daily devotional series Fasting and the Heart of God.

“…Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.” (Isaiah 58:10)

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When I was a kid, my parents took me spelunking several times during summer vacations. One of the most powerful and even scary moments of every cave adventure was when the tour guide would turn off the lights inside the cavern. We would stand in absolute darkness for a few ominous moments, and the total blackness seemed to almost permeate our skin and seep into our bones. I could not even see my hand as I waved it two inches in front of my face! Then, when it seemed we could not stand the dark another minute, our leader would turn on a small flashlight. That small light became an almost tangible source of hope and direction. No longer in the dark, we could continue exploring the vast caverns to eventually emerge into shining daylight.

Pray for your fellow intercessor.

In today’s Scripture, God says to His people, “If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul…Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.”  While I understand that God is talking about physical needs of the hungry and afflicted, I also think He is asking us to satisfy spiritual famine and suffering. His compassion reaches to the whole person. Those who walk in spiritual blindness are not unlike I was, standing in those dark caves. Unbelievers cannot see, just as I could not. The spiritually hungry have no hope, apart from Christ, to overcome their darkness. God sees their needs and asks His people to have compassion. Jesus said, “If … therefore the light that is in [unbelievers] is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23).

As each of us reaches out to minister to the hurting, we will be like a flashlight in a dark cave. Our little lights point the way to Truth and to the great light of Christ. As we obey God and love as He has loved us, darkness is swallowed up by light. Eventually, that light is so luminous that the “dark” becomes “as the noonday.” What a glorious, magnificent promise God has given in this verse! (By Julie Hamner)

In your time seeking God today:

• Thank God that He saw your spiritually blind state and reached out, through someone, to save you. Thank our Father for the greatest gift of His Son, Jesus. Earnestly thank Jesus for dying on a cross so that you can see His glorious light.
• Sometime, close yourself in a dark room or closet, or better yet, blindfold yourself. Try to do a simple task like combing your hair, putting on a shirt, or tying your shoe. Once you’ve spent a few moments being physically “blind,” spend a few minutes thinking about what it would be like to be spiritually blind. Ask God to give you His eyes to see the spiritually hungry and afflicted.
• Pray that God would give you resources to meet the needs of others. Ask Jesus to make you a light in the darkness so that others may know the glory of His Name.

Related Scripture:

• Matthew 6:23
• John 1:5
• John 8:1
• 1 John 1:5

Fasting and the Heart of God Full PDF Version

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(Photo Credit: Katsia Jazwinska on Unsplash)