391. Arise and Shine
Micah 7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.
The Lord causes me to arise against my enemy (sin, death, or devil). Jesus has earned the victory over all my enemies and defeated them utterly at the Cross and the Empty Tomb, He has saved me to the uttermost. Indeed, I do fall, time and again, but every time I arise, get up and go forward. Because of Jesus I will not stay down; I can always get back up again, even after seven times a day. We do get frustrated with ourselves after failing so many times, but in Christ I may always arise again. “You can’t keep a good man down.” I am not good, but Jesus is good in me; Jesus is the good man. He is always there to pick me up again, dust me off, and set me on the way. Sin brings discouragement, frustration and stumbling. Jesus renews, encourages and strengthens. Sin, as the enemy, brings about a fall; Jesus, as the friend, brings about a rising again. I need to believe this promise or I may begin to believe that I am hopeless, can’t shake the depression, and am sinking in the mire. We may have periods when we are tempted to say, “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up.” Jesus says, “Arise!”
Darkness, bleakness and emptiness surround us all the time and at times the darkness threatens to engulf us, but the promise is that Jesus will be a light for me. Jesus, the light, penetrates the darkness and pushes it away. Light has power; darkness has no power. The Enemy uses it to scare, threaten and lie. But the truth and life of the gospel has the dynamic force to overpower and drive back the darkness. Darkness cannot push back the light. “Let the light shine” means to repent of sin, receive Jesus and believe the Gospel, and when He shines a light we see. Then we find out that there was nothing to fear from the darkness after all. “Your Word is a light to my path.” With Jesus the Light we always know where we are and where we are going. Both the future and the present are bright.