Devotions for Advent: DAYSPRING

Dec 06 2016 Devotions for Advent: DAYSPRING

DAYSPRING

…pay attention to this as you would to a light shining in a

murky place, until the day

dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 

2 Peter 1:19 NET

…Because of our God’s tender mercy

the dawn will break upon us from on high

To  give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death…

Luke 1:78-79 NET

 DA’YSPRING,  noun: The dawn; the beginning of the day, or first appearance of light.

Webster’s 1828

Are you a fan of the morning? It has taken me years to get here but I am a fan now. It did not come naturally; I was a slow starter even as a child. I am a nine-to-nine person, capable of intelligible conversation only between those hours (and that is debatable). These days, though, I cherish early morning: time spent in prayer, Bible reading, and savoring the sunrise, showing off beyond the tall trees.

God’s word is full of beautiful light imagery and the picture of Christ as a sunrise. The Pulpit Commentary explains:

“In his temple service at Jerusalem the priest must have seen the ruddy dawn rise grandly over the dark chain of the distant mountains, and lighting up with a blaze of golden glory the everlasting hills as they stood round about Jerusalem. The thought which pictured the advent of Messiah as a sunrise was a favorite one with the prophets.”

The prophet Isaiah uses the metaphor of Christ as a sunrise in chapter 60, verse three. Saying, “For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you…” As does Malachi in chapter 4 verse two (KJV), “But Unto you, that fear my Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings“

Jerusalem needed a sunrise, a Dayspring, to fill its blackness with light, as does our world today. This Dayspring will come again. Until then, we find Him in the beauty of the sunrise and focus our thoughts on Him and His mission for us.

Reflect:

1. Who is this Dayspring? Why did He need to come to this dark world?
2. Set your intention to begin your advent mornings with Jesus. Invite Him to rise in your heart as you rise from your bed.

Dayspring.

Fill my Advent mornings with your Savior sunrise. I commit to finding you first as I rise each day this Christmas.

Amen

Oh come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Latin, Ninth-Century

Translated by John M. Neale, 1851

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