{"id":879,"date":"2009-11-25T09:48:30","date_gmt":"2009-11-25T14:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=879"},"modified":"2011-05-02T15:45:44","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T19:45:44","slug":"the-light-in-deaths-shadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/the-light-in-deaths-shadow\/","title":{"rendered":"The Light in Death&#8217;s Shadow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>These are hopeless days for lots of people. The economy is getting worse. People are losing their jobs. They can&#8217;t afford homes. They can&#8217;t afford health care. Everybody is\u00a0scared of the swine flue.\u00a0We&#8217;re selling our country to China.\u00a0There is no end in sight to the war in Iraq. Terrorism is a constant threat. So is crime.<\/p>\n<p>So we have a lot to be thankful for.<\/p>\n<p>Wait. What?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gracecommentary.com\/bible\/showthread.php?t=35\" target=\"_blank\">Look at\u00a0Zacharias in Luke 1:67-79 to see what I mean<\/a>. Here&#8217;s a\u00a0man who\u00a0loses his job (a priest without a voice is not a priest)\u00a0and can&#8217;t explain why to his wife. At least, not with words. And not only that, but as with all Jewish people about 2000 years ago in Israel, they were heavily taxed by the oppressive Roman government. We can&#8217;t say for sure, but\u00a0I have to wonder if Zacharias\u00a0lost his\u00a0home (They say John grew up in the wilderness. Why, if he had a home?) And on top of it all, he&#8217;s got a son coming. And Zacharias, if he is as old as he says, probably won&#8217;t be around long enough to see John reach adulthood.<\/p>\n<p>Yet as\u00a0we read what Zacharias says, he praises God for what God\u00a0is about to do in\u00a0and for Israel through his son, John. Things are not great for Zacharias, but he sees a glimmer\u00a0of light. In verses 78-79, he talks about the morning light that is about to break upon those who\u00a0sit in the\u00a0darkness of\u00a0the shadow of death.\u00a0He is talking about himself and all those in Israel who are in similar situations. Also, he is quoting\u00a0from\u00a0Psalm 107, which is about how to give thanks to God, even in the midst of misery and despair. Psalm 107 lays out four different groups of\u00a0people who are facing misery, despair, and even death. When they cried out to God, He intervened, and so they give thanks.<\/p>\n<p>As a nation, and for many of us\u00a0as individuals, we are at the place where these four groups\u00a0were at in Psalm 107, and where Zacharias was before the birth of John. But if we cry out to God for rescue, we can expectantly thank Him for the deliverance that will follow. Tough times are not times to despair, but times of opportunity for our faith and thankfulness to grow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These are hopeless days for lots of people. The economy is getting worse. People are losing their jobs. They can&#8217;t afford homes. They can&#8217;t afford health care. Everybody is\u00a0scared of the swine flue.\u00a0We&#8217;re selling our country to China.\u00a0There is no end in sight to the war in Iraq. Terrorism is a constant threat. So is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"tag-bible-commentary-luke","7":"tag-bible-study","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Light in Death&#039;s Shadow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/the-light-in-deaths-shadow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Light in Death&#039;s Shadow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These are hopeless days for lots of people. 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