FINDING LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS

It has been said that everything we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see. In the book of First Samuel we read, "...the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David and Jonathan loved him as himself."  I think the compassion that Jonathan found for David was not of this world, but a shadow of the love that Jesus has for us. It was a supernatural "knitting" of the souls. Not something Jonathan could have mustered up on his own. Remember, he was the one in line of inheriting the Kingdom. It was his legal right to one day sit on the throne that he was willing to give to David. He  would lay down his life for David if necessary. Without hesitation The Word tells us that he gave  David his royal robe, his armor, including his sword, his bow and his belt. It was a shadow of what Love would lay down for us.

Love took off His robe of royalty and covered the sins of peasants, only to call us Priest and Kings. He laid aside His divine protection as the Creator of the Universe. Legions of angels must have wept when He bid them stay. He was willing to die in order to transfer that heavenly protection onto us. As I stare into that shadow I am undone with the beauty of His light. How The One who heaven knows as The Morning Star would become a falling one on my behalf. He knit Himself to our souls. Souls whose stench must have made it hard for Him to even find breath. Don't think for a moment He didn't know what He was getting Himself in to. Remember, nothing was hidden from His all seeing sight. He knew exactly what price He would have to pay.

We envision how disgusted He must have been to see the depth of our wretchedness. How despairing He must have felt over our failures. If that wasn't enough, surely our rejection of Him would have been the last draw. Yet, He chose to knit Himself to our soul....He loved us as Himself!  Love's eyes see much differently than ours. When He chose to set aside His safety and welfare to die in our place, He wasn't undone by our weakness, nor our failures. He was there each time we gave way to temptation. He was there when we chose to erect walls to protect ourselves from those who cut our hearts. In the midst of our darkness He never once looked away. His eyes have always seen what ours couldn't. He always saw the prince of darkness lurking in all of our shadows. He saw the one who strategically placed temptations on our paths. He saw the liar that convinced us to erect walls around our hearts. He saw that the very bricks we used were nothing less than the lies themselves, until they towered so high over head, that we could no longer see the light.

Love can only love! We just can't wrap our minds around that. No agenda, no networking, no pay-backs only "pay it forward". He laid everything aside and knit Himself to our souls, even knowing many would refuse to stay there. He loved us as Himself. No greater love than this, that One would lay down His life for His friends! Let us burst forth through the shadows into His glorious light. Let us not give up pressing our souls into His heart which beats in rhythm with our own. Let us not lay aside everything He died to give us! Let us press in and take hold of that which has taken hold of us. Like Moses let us persevere because we see Him who is invisible, who gave up His everything to bestow it upon us! Search diligently for Him in the shadows...He is always there!