The Day Dawns…

6:22 a.m. Head down, eyes fixed on the gray concrete path before me, I turned the corner of 6th Ave. and 21st St, heading east again on my 2-mile morning walk. Lifting my head for a moment, just long enough to get my bearings and be sure of a clear road ahead, I was smitten by the spectacular.

A light, foggy mist lingered just above the ripening corn stalks as golden streams of morning light pierced their way through the veil of trees on the nearby horizon. Behind the veil burned the full, brilliant orange sun, rendering black the trees in the foreground. Despite my drivenness to maintain a swift pace of 14 minutes per mile, I stopped, grateful for the camera on my phone, despite its total inability to capture the splendor before me. The moment recorded, the last ¾ mile passed in reflection upon what had just happened.

A few minutes earlier, I had been lost in prayer over the concerns of life, ministry, and family. They consumed my thoughts; I was oblivious to all else around me. But then the light broke through. They day dawned. I could not help but be drawn to the distant glory awakening before me. My thoughts went to a phrase in Scripture, “until the day dawn….” “What’s the context of that phrase?” My mind strained to remember. I needed to get home, look it up, find out. What was this morning’s spectacular interruption wanting to teach me?

I found it. 2 Peter 1:19 – “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.…” [ESV] There it is! God’s people look forward with joyful anticipation to the break of day, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ bringing glorious salvation for his own! This coming Day of the Lord will pierce the darkness, the light of His glorious presence unmistakable and unavoidable.

In the meantime, we weary pilgrims plod along the path of life, at times consumed with the burdens weighing on our shoulders. But our plodding is not in darkness. No, not at all. God has graciously revealed Himself in His Word, providing “a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). On this morning’s walk, I had plenty of light to guide my steps, and the path was abundantly clear before me; nevertheless, I had to pay attention to where I was going, to where I placed my next step. Though nearly lost in prayerful burden bearing, I nonetheless needed the light to walk sure-footed and secure. So Peter exhorts us to give heed to our steps by use of the lamp of God’s revelation.

Until the day dawn!