A phrase in this morning’s prayer caught my attention:“And we will be made worthy of enjoying Your unapproachable light.”In 1John 1:5, the Apostle tells us that “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” However, I’ve never thought about the idea of actually “enjoying” God’s light, of joyfully anticipating dwelling eternally in his brilliance and glory. Yet, it’s in God’s light that we truly see and live in reality. Psalm 36:9 states, “In your light we see light.”Yet, the prayer also links another concept with enjoy God’s light. We need to be made worthy of enjoying God’s light. My first reaction was “Huh?” Why do I need to be made worthy of enjoying his brilliance? The fact is, I’m not worthy. My sins, selfishness, evil desires, and delusions prevent me from enjoying his light.My modern context gets in the way of understanding why this is so important. In pre-modern biblical times, light only came from fire. The two were inseparable. So the brighter the light, the hotter the fire. I imagine that when the biblical writers spoke of God’s light, it was intimately linked to the idea of God being an all-consuming fire. In other words, in order to enjoy the brilliance of his light, I also need to be made worthy to enjoy the “heat” of his holiness and glory.God’s fire needs to burn me as a living sacrifice. It needs to burn away everything that stands against his will and dreams. When it’s all slowly burned away by his presence, I’m being made worthy of enjoying his unapproachable light that comes with his fire.

 Subscribe through Feedburner