Every ecosystem and climate hosts them. People have domesticated many of them. We’re in awe of some, in terror of others, bothered by a host of them, and are still discovering more every year.

It’s crazy how they influence our lives as pets, as pests, as beings we read about, dream about and talk about. As things we pay money and drive places to see, and maybe experience.

The Bible has a lot to say about animals, because they’re such a major part of creation and the lives of people.

Because the scriptures were written by people who lived in one geographical part of the world, those are the animals we read about in these texts.

But we can gain insight and learn from these scriptures no matter where in the world we live, and which animals are our neighbors.

Let’s take a look at 39 Bible verses that mention animals and the lessons we can learn from these scriptures:

Creation and People’s Responsibility Over It

Animals are mentioned in the first chapter of the Bible’s first book.

The Creation Story

1. Genesis 1:20-23—”God said, ‘Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.’ God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good. 

“God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.”

2. Genesis 1:24-25—”God said, ‘Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind,’ and it was so. God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.”

3. Genesis 1:26—”God said, ‘Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ “

4. Genesis 2:19-20—”Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name. The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him.”

A Reminder of People’s Responsibility

5. Genesis 9:2-3—”The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that moves along the ground, and all the fish of the sea, are delivered into your hand. Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As I gave you the green herb, I have given everything to you.” (This is the Lord talking to Noah)

6. Psalm 8:6-8—”You [God] make him [man, meaning mankind] ruler over the works of Your hands. You have put all things under his feet:All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field, the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.”

Key Takeaways

God created the animals intentionally, and eventually placed them under the care and authority of His final creation: people.

Animals and people have coexisted for a very long time. When Adam and Eve sinned, the judgment for that sin wasn’t just on them—all of creation has suffered under that curse.

While the Lord have the authority and responsibility first to Adam, He repeated that charge to Noah and his descendants. All of us carry that responsibility.

Historically, people have swung from doing a horrible, cruel job to placing a higher priority on animals than people.

To think about:

• How can we love the Lord well by stewarding the care and authority over the animals well?
• Where should animals be in order of priority for our affections, money and time?

God Cares for the Animals

When God created the animals, He provided care for them in the earth…and part of our authority and care of the earth is care for the animals.

God’s Part

7. Psalm 104:10-14—”He sends springs into the valleys. They run among the mountains. They give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing among the branches.

“He waters the mountains from His rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of Your works. He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth.”

8. Psalm 147:9—”He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.”

9. Matthew 6:26—”See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?”

10. Matthew 10:29—”“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin [a coin of small value]? Not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.”

11. Luke 12:6—“Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God.”

12. Luke 12:24—”Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!”

Our Part

13. Proverbs 12:10—”A righteous man respects the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”

14. Jonah 4:11—”Shouldn’t I [God] be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?”

Key Takeaways

God created the ecosystems of the earth to provide for the animals He created.

The Lord illustrates His care for us by drawing our attention to His care for the animals.

Because He takes such good care of them, part of our earthly responsibility is to treat animal life humanely as much as is possible for us. Cruelty has no part in our lives.

To think about:

• In my experience, the more I learn about the amazing natural world, the more I’m grateful that I can trust the Lord’s amazing wisdom and creativity in my own life. How about you?
• Treating animals humanely doesn’t mean they should have higher priority than people.

Practical Care and Wisdom for Animals

If you’ve never read the Bible, it might surprise you that the Lord gives people practical instruction for caring for animals…even the animals of your enemy:

15. Exodus 20:10—”but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates.”

16. Exodus 23:4-5—“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him. You shall surely help him with it.”

17. Leviticus 25:6-7—[This verse is talking about giving the land a Sabbath every seven years] “The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you. For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.”

18.Deuteronomy 22:6-7—”If you come across a bird’s nest on the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on the young, or on the eggs, you shall not take the hen with the young. You shall surely let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.”

19. Deuteronomy 25:4—”You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.”

People, Animals and Analogy

20. Proverbs 14:4—”Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.”

21. Luke 13:15—”Therefore the Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath and lead him away to water?’ “

[Jesus talking with the Pharisees’ hypocrisy about the Sabbath and their criticizing Him for healing a man.]

22. James 3:7-8—”For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind; but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

Key Takeaways

Some of the laws God gave Moses included very specific provisions for animal welfare.

We can’t have the benefits of the “strength of the ox” without the messes that come with it. That applies to all of life.

To think about:

• Is it true that we spend more time taming/training our new puppy than working on the words that come out of our mouths to other people? Especially the people who share our home with that puppy?
• The Bible is immensely practical!

Lessons We Can Learn from the Animals

Specifically, lessons about how to honor the Lord:

Lessons from Job

23. Job 12:7-10—“But ask the animals now, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. The fish of the sea will declare to you. Who doesn’t know that in all these, Yahweh’s hand has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?”

24. Job 35:11—”…[God] who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?”

Several chapters at the end of Job are the Lord reprimanding Job by discussing the animal world. Here are a few segments of that monologue:

25. Job 39:1-4, 19-21, 26-29—”Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns? Can you count the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth? They bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labor pains. Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again…

“Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane? Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men…

“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high? On the cliff he dwells and makes his home, on the point of the cliff and the stronghold.From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off.”

Follow These Animals Examples

26. Proverbs 6:6-8—”Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise; which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”

(Sluggard is one of those great words that we should bring back into common use, lol!)

27. Proverbs 30:24-28—”There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: The ants are not a strong people, yet they provide their food in the summer. The hyraxes are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks. The locusts have no king, yet they advance in ranks. You can catch a lizard with your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.”

(A hyrax is a small, furry mammal native to the Middle East and Africa.)

28. Jeremiah 8:7—”Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.”

Key Takeaways

What animals demonstrate by instinct has been created into them by the Lord.

In a similar way, humans have a kind of instinct about Someone beyond our selves. Yet, the Lord gives us moral choice—something He didn’t create in the animals. While animals simply follow their instinct, we can choose to love and follow God or reject Him.

Sometimes the Lord needs to take us down a few pegs, like He did with Job. And Job responded rightly by humbling himself and repenting.

To think about:

• Dogs are popular pets because they’re so good at showing unconditional love. We can learn from that!
• One of the best (and most fun) ways to teach kids responsibility is to have pets in the home.
• The more details we learn about the animal kingdom, the more in awe we are with God’s wisdom and creativity.

Animals are Part of God’s Redemptive Plan

It seems from the Bible that animals are part of the Lord’s eternal plan and not just current residents of this earth. That’s good news!

29. Ecclesiastes 3:19-21—”For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?”

30. Romans 8:19-22—”For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.”

Animals in the New Heavens and Earth

31. Isaiah 11:6—”The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.”

32. Isaiah 65:25—” ‘The wolf and the lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,’ says Yahweh.”

33. Hosea 2:18—”In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.”

34. Revelation 5:13—” I heard every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be the blessing, the honor, the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever! Amen!’ “

Key Takeaways

Do animals have spirits? Are there animals in heaven now? Like a pet that’s died? I don’t know, but I wonder if they have something like a spirit.

Since they don’t have moral choice, they’re not morally responsible like humans are, but maybe they have some kind of non-moral spirit. We’ll find out one day!

It certainly seems the case that animals will be a big part of the New Earth one day when “every tear is wiped away.” When that day comes, I’ve told my kids, I want a pet tiger!

To think about:

• God obviously loves life in an abundance of shapes, colors and sizes. Isn’t it interesting that He created so much life, yet it’s only with people that He can have a relationship?
• It seems that some of the peace described one day between the animals by Isaiah is available to us now as a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Animals in Worship & Sacrifice in the Bible

Many people have a very hard time with the practice of animal sacrifice in the Bible. In a large part, that’s because most of us don’t take sin seriously enough and don’t take God’s holiness seriously enough.

These are both very big deals in the Bible. And if they’re important to the Lord, they need to be important to us as Christians.

35. Genesis 8:20—”Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”

36. Leviticus 1:2—”Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When anyone of you offers an offering to Yahweh, you shall offer your offering of the livestock, from the herd and from the flock.’ “

37. Psalm 50:10—”For every animal of the forest is Mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills.”

38. Isaiah 1:11, 16—” ‘What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?’ says Yahweh. ‘I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats…Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes.’ “

39. John 1:29—”The next day, he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ “

Key Takeaways

It’s clear in the Bible that God is very much against the taking of human life. Animal life, though, had to be taken as a sacrifice to Him to worship and to repent of sin.

Just the fact that He commanded animal sacrifice when we can see that He values animals as part of His creation shows us the seriousness of the sacrificial system.

Because Jesus came as the Lamb of God [John is comparing Him to the Passover lamb killed each year] we’re no longer under the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. Jesus’ blood on the cross was the final sacrifice for those who accept it and turn their lives around to follow Him.

To think about:

• That verse in Psalm 50 both acknowledges God’s sovereign rule and encourages us about His provision. He owns it all!
• When was the last time you really explored the books of the law in the Old Testament and tried to understand what all those sacrifices were about?
• And then we have Isaiah’s prophecy, where God says no more going to Him with the required sacrifices when we’re not turning our hearts to Him. No false worship. What’s the correlation for us today?

Wrapping It Up

Life would be so much less full without our pets, the wildlife, birds flying around—all the creatures great and small.

For now, there’s a lot of conflict between the animals, and between humans and animals. But one day, those who love and follow the Lord will get to experience a future without that conflict.

Something to look forward to, even while we enjoy the animal life around us in the meantime.

All photos by Sharon Brodin

Bible verses from World English Bible, public domain.

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365 Daily Devotionals for Outdoor and Nature Lovers

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The post Animals in the Bible: 39 Scriptures & Practical Lessons first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

Have you ever thought about it like that?

Abundance of Species

In our devotional book, Heaven and Nature Sing, I listed the numbers of some of the species God created in our natural world. These are approximate:

• 6,400 species of mammals
• 18,000 bird species
• 32,500 different fish species in our oceans and freshwater
• 60,000+ species of trees
• 400,000 plants species
• 900,000 species of insects

THAT’S abundance! While that January 20th devotional focuses on God’s creativity, we can also see from these numbers that God was very generous in His creativity.

Each ecosystem doesn’t have just a handful of species, but loads of them! Beyond counting, really.

And the Bible teaches us that the Lord cares for each, just like He cares for us:

Matthew 6:26—“See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?”

Luke 12:27—“Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Psalm 50:10—“For every animal of the forest is Mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills.”

Water, Everywhere

Earth looks blue from space because of all the water. In fact, 71% of Earth’s surface is covered in water, most of it (96.5%) by the oceans.

Life must have water—and plenty of it—to exist. So the Lord was extremely generous with it to benefit all the living species He made, including us.

When we stand at the shore of an ocean or even a huge lake (like our Lake Superior here in Minnesota), there’s water as far as the eye can see.

And some of my favorite examples of overflowing abundance are rivers and waterfalls. It seems they never stop flowing.

I still remember being at Niagara Falls a few years ago, watching the unbelievable amounts of water pour over the edge. Trillions of gallons. What abundance.

Rivers and waterfalls can be small and tucked away, too, and still present that picture of continual flow. Generosity.

In Psalm 1, the author uses water as a picture of spiritual flourishing for those who follow the Lord:

Psalm 1:1-3—“Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in Yahweh’s* law. On His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.”

*Yahweh is the Hebrew name for God.

We find the same picture in Jeremiah 17:7-8—“Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh. For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.”

Gigantic Trees

I have yet to see the world’s largest trees—the sequoias and giant redwoods of California. One day, I hope to.

General Sherman, the largest sequoia of them all and the world’s biggest tree, is almost 275 feet tall with a ground circumference of over 102 feet. It stands in Sequoia National Park.

Our big trees here in Minnesota aren’t anywhere close to that. But we have some pretty huge cottonwoods and white pines.

You probably have some old, very large trees where you live too. Either large in height or circumference, or both. Many are protected in the world’s parks, and others grow on public and private land.

The Lord didn’t have to create such enormity—but He did. They’re another picture of His generous heart.

Trees are mentioned often in the Bible. My favorite verses are the ones at the very beginning and the very end:

Genesis 2:9—“Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Again, the generosity of the Lord—for joy, for nourishment, for life and knowledge.

Revelation 22:1-2—“He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

The Tree of Life sounds big, too, if it stands on both sides of the river! I wonder what that will be like?

Flourishing Plant Life in Rainy Climates

A rain forest or jungle is a great example of how plant life flourishes when rain is abundant.

Rain forests grow all over the world. They especially cover ecosystems near the equator, in tropical climates.

There are also some rain forests in more temperate climates like the northwest coast of North America, from northern California all the way to Alaska. Parts of South America, Australia and New Zealand also have these temperate rain forests.

We can see it in our own gardens and yards. In those years when we get plenty of rain, our gardens flourish.

A Bible verse that identifies rain as one of God’s blessings is Deuteronomy 28:12—“Yahweh will open to you His good treasure in the sky, to give the rain of your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You will lend to many nations, and you will not borrow.”

The Lord’s generosity again, shown through the abundance He gives.

Rain is also used an illustration of how God uses His word to accomplish His purposes with His people in the earth:

Isaiah 55:10-11—“For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is My word that goes out of My mouth: it will not return to Me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.”

The Miracle of the Seed

A quick online search will tell you that an average apple contains five seeds. If you plant one of them, by the time the new apple tree matures, it’ll produce 1,500 apples each season.

If you planted all five seeds from the original apple, in a few years you could have 7,500 apples from those five trees—in one season.

Take the seeds from those 7,500 apples and plant them—that’s 37,500 seeds—and, according to my math, that’s over 56 million apples in a few more years. In one growing season.

Take the seeds from those 56 million apples and…you get the picture.

The Lord designed into one apple the genetic material in its seeds to produce millions upon millions of apples over generations.

That’s abundant generosity!

Here are a couple of psalms that praise God and ask Him for His generosity through agriculture:

Psalm 65:11—“You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance.”

Psalm 72:16—“Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.”

Two Hundred Billion Trillion Stars

One of the best pictures of the generosity of God is in the number of stars in the universe.

Modern astronomers now believe there are about two trillion galaxies. An average galaxy, like our Milky Way, contains 100 billion stars. Multiply that by two trillion and the number is two hundred billion trillion (2 followed by 23 zeros).

That’s a few stars!

We can see about 6,000 of them from earth with the naked eye. (And even that seems like a boatload of stars!)

Why would the Lord make so many more stars than we can see? Could it be out of plain generosity? His own pleasure?

Because He knew that one day, people would devise instruments capable of discovering many more of them than most people throughout history could’ve thought possible?

I don’t know, but what a picture of generosity!

Of course, there are many Bible verses about the stars. Here are just three of them:

Psalm 8:3-4—“When I consider your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man, that You think of him? What is the son of man, that You care for him?”

Psalm 147:4—“He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.”

Jeremiah 31:35—“Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar—Yahweh of Armies is his name…”

Northern Lights Shows

Here’s just one more example of the Lord’s generosity on a grand scale. As I write this, just last night, many of us across the northern half of the US got to witness a spectacular northern lights show.

It was probably the brightest and most colorful one I’ve personally ever seen—and certainly the longest. And I got to watch it right from our backyard for 45 minutes. And it wasn’t in the middle of night!

(At least, it was, but it started around 8:00 pm, so those of us who don’t get up in the middle of the night could see it, too, lol!)

These weren’t just in the northern sky either, but stretched over to the west and covered the sky above us as well.

This natural phenomenon only happens occasionally, and we need to have clear skies to see them—and it helps if there’s not a lot of light pollution from cities.

But, what a treat! What a gift.

While our phone cameras pull the colors out a little more than we can see with our eyes, photos can’t contain the vastness of what we saw last night.

That’s another picture of the abundant generosity of our good God. And just for beauty and pleasure.

Psalm 19:1—“The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork.”

Truly.

The Lord’s Generosity Through Jesus

The pinnacle of the Lord’s generous heart, though, isn’t in the natural world. It’s in the gift of His Son, who died and rose again on our behalf.

Let these truths soak into your mind and spirit:

John 10:10—“The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.”

Romans 8:32—“He who didn’t spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how would He not also with Him freely give us all things?”

Romans 15:13—“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 9:8—“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.”

Ephesians 3:20-21—“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”

Philippians 4:19—“My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

2 Peter 1:2-4—“Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and virtue, by which He has granted to us His precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature…”

It’s hard to stop!

Here’s one more psalm for you…

Psalm 23:5—“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.“

Buy Today

Heaven and Nature Sing

365 Daily Devotionals for Outdoor and Nature Lovers

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All scriptures from the World English Bible. Public domain.

Photos by Sharon Brodin unless stated otherwise.

Here’s more…

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The post How Nature Exhibits the Lord’s Amazing Generosity first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

The first is in Ezekiel 47, and the second in Revelation 22.

I’ve only recently heard it taught that there are hundreds of Old Testament references throughout the book of Revelation. This is one of them, and probably my personal favorite!

I love water: rivers, lakes, oceans, waves, waterfalls. So it’s not surprising that the descriptions in Ezekiel and Revelation are so meaningful to me.

Have you ever noticed the parallels in these two passages?

Let’s take a look:

Ezekiel 47:1-12 “Everything will live where the river goes…”

These twelve verses are part of a several-chapter narrative of a dramatic and lengthy vision Ezekiel had.

The Lord took him in this vision from Babylon, where he had went with the other captives, to Jerusalem in Israel.

There, a man “whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze” started to show him a series of things about the temple (Ezekiel 40:3).

We’ll pick it up in chapter 47:

Ezekiel’s Vision of the River

“Then he [the man] brought me [Ezekiel] back to the door of the house [the temple], and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east.

“And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar.

“He brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling from the south side.

“When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles.

“Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins.

“Again he measured a thousand , and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded.

“He said to me, ‘Son of man, have you seen this?’ Then he brought me back to the bank of the river.

“Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on one side and on the other.

“Then he said to me, ‘These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah [the geological depression where the Dead Sea is]; then they go toward the sea [the Dead Sea], being made to flow in the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh.

(NOTE: My study Bible provides a lot of these extra tidbits.)

The River Brings Life

Verse 9, the man continues to speak:

“It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh, so everything will live where the river goes.

“And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim [on the western shore of the Dead Sea] there will be a place for the spreading of nets. The fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea [I assume the Mediterranean Sea], very many.

“But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.

“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not whither and their fruit will not fail.

“They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.“

The Dead Sea

Have you ever been to the Dead Sea? I was there in 2018 during a trip to Israel.

I got to experience what it’s famous for: being able to float with ease due to the very high salt content (nine times higher than the oceans, I learned).

That high salt content also makes it very inhospitable to life.

But in this vision (that Bible scholars believe is talking about “the new temple, the new city, and the new people” of the last days, p. 1,417 of my study Bible), the river that flows from the sanctuary gives life wherever it goes by turning the salt water to fresh.

Remember what those last couple of verses say about the trees bearing fruit every month, and the healing in their leaves. You’ll see that again here…

Revelation 22:1-2 “The river of the water of life…”

Another vision, this time given to Jesus’ “beloved disciple” John, now as an old man. He was being guided in his vision by an angel (Revelation 21:9):

“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of the street [this is in the New Jerusalem from chapter 21].

“On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

John is describing this tree next to this river in the New Jerusalem after all the wars and judgments already depicted in Revelation.

The end of the end, and the new beginning so awesomely written about by CS Lewis at the closing of his book, The Last Battle [the final book of the Narnia series]:

“All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page.

“Now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

The Bible describes this new life using objects we know so well here on earth: rivers, trees, fruit and leaves. All part of the natural world around us that He created in the first place.

Jesus Came to Give Us Life

For those of us who follow Jesus here and now, who call Him our Savior and Lord, we can access the life this river gives while we still live on earth.

It’s by coming into His presence. The river in Ezekiel flows from the sanctuary and the river in Revelation flows from the throne of God. His presence.

We won’t have all the astounding fruitfulness and healing here, because we still live in a cursed and sinful world.

But we live, as many have said, in an “already and not yet” reality. We can have a taste of this Life by welcoming and obeying the Holy Spirit in us every day.

The Life of that river, I believe, offers us the same fruits today as Paul describes in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.

Boy, having those fruits working in us constantly seems like heaven on earth!

Going back to Ezekiel’s vision of the river that’s rising every thousand cubits—we can look at that like this:

Each of us has a choice about how much of that river of life we experience in our daily lives. Is it only ankle deep? Knee deep? Thigh deep? Or are we swimming in that life? Are we be carried by it?

How deep do you want it to be?

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Here’s more…

• Water and Its Importance in the Bible
• How to Know If You Have a Biblical Worldview
• Why the Bible Reminds Us God is the Creator

The post Two “Rivers of Life” in the Bible first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

Definitely put this hike on your to-do list the next time (or the first time) you’re in Rocky. I’ve done it twice now and look forward to hiking it again in the not-too-distant future.

How to Get There

The trailhead is on the east side of the Park, not far from Moraine Park Campground, where we camped on our first trip there. Take Bear Lake Road off Highway 36, coming from Estes Park.

There’s a sizeable parking lot right there at the trailhead—which is also where the short paved walk to Bear Lake begins. But the parking lot fills up quickly during the busy summer season—as early as 9:00 a.m. Your best bet is to take a shuttle from the Park-and-Ride along Bear Lake Road.

(You can see all this on the Park map here.)

On our 2015 trip, we had settled on seeing Bear Lake, so we took the shuttle there. Upon our arrival, a very helpful ranger suggested we take the trail to Dream Lake, too. She said the 2-mile round-trip hike was well worth it.

Are we ever glad we took her advice!

(Incidentally, this has happened to us before. If someone who knows the area suggests a hike, do it! We haven’t regretted it yet.)

Why We loved the Dream Lake Hike

The Views Along the Way

The views were the definite highlight. First we swung by Bear Lake, which is barely stepping away from the parking lot. Then we proceeded up the trail on the way to Dream Lake.

Shortly after we hiked past the second lake, which is Nymph Lake, our son and nephew led the way, scrambling up some rocks. We all decided to follow, and WOW—this was the treat in store for us:

Not bad, eh?! That’s Long’s Peak, the highest peak in Rocky at 14,259 feet.

There were great views like this in several places along the trail.

An Easy Hike for the Whole Family

This trail is 2.2 miles roundtrip, with only 450 feet of elevation gain. That’s pretty tame for the mountains.

The path is wide and well-worn. Very suitable for both young children (we saw many) and older adults. The youngest in our group was 8, and he handled it very easily.

Dream Lake

Dream Lake is the quintessential mountain lake with peaks that seem to climb right up off its shores, plenty of trees and the crystal clear water. There are plenty of places for the kids to climb around, and options to sit on the rocks and enjoy the view.

No Bugs!

As with Rocky in general, there are hardly any mosquitoes and flies. Truly a blessed thing for those of us from the Midwest!

What’s Not to Love

The Crowds

This hike is still very much worth it, even if you’re there on a busy summer day with dozens of others, like we were.

But if you prefer a more solitary hike, avoid July and August certainly, and maybe even the last half of June. Or get up very early and be on the trail by 6:00 or 7:00 a.m.

Still, not everyone who’s there to see Bear Lake bothers to take the hike to Dream Lake—or maybe they don’t know how great it is because they didn’t ask anyone!

On my second time there, three years later, it was in late May. There were a handful of people, but not nearly as many as during the summer season. We were easily able to park at the trailhead even at midday.

So shoulder season is always a good idea to avoid the crowds.

That’s really the only thing not to love. And for another reminder why you should do this hike, here’s an additional view from along the trail:

Pretty gorgeous, huh?

What Else to Know about This Hike

Prepare for the Altitude

After doing several mountain hikes in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, I’ve discovered the altitude doesn’t really bother me, other than extra breathlessness.

But it affects some people quite a bit. It can cause headaches, nausea, heavy breathing and fatigue.

People usually suggest being in the area for a couple of days before you take on strenuous activities like mountain hikes. That gives your body a chance to acclimate.

Bring drinking water and some light, healthy snacks to help any symptoms you may get.

Bring Rain Gear

Like on any mountain hike, you’ll want rain gear with you just in case. An afternoon shower is common in the mountains.

Our first time there the sky was blue when we started out. By the time we headed back, it was raining lightly.

Do More If You Can

We didn’t take the time, but as you can see from the map, you can continue taking the trail to the west for Emerald Lake. Or take another trail toward the south and Lake Haiyaha.

I’m sure any of the trails in that part of Rocky are stunning. Again, one day I’d like to go back and take a full day (during shoulder season, preferably) to hike further in for more Rocky gorgeousness.

The Final Word

If you’re planning a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, be sure to write this hike on your itinerary. Some of the most beautiful views in the Park are along this easy, accessible trail.

Go to this National Park Service’s page for info on fees, passes and timed entry reservations.

Mountains, trees, wildflowers, streams and lakes are such a vivid display of God’s beauty, creativity and blessing.

I think it’s so special that—unlike any of the other species on earth—He created us to be able to enjoy these wonders. To benefit from them emotionally, spiritually and physically.

What a gift!

Okay, one more photo:

Here’s more…

• Beautiful Snowshoeing near Breckenridge, Colorado
• Why the Bible Reminds Us God is the Creator
• How to Plan an Epic Family Road Trip

The post Don’t Miss the Dream Lake Hike When You Visit Rocky first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

First, let’s get the pronunciation right. It’s “MackiNAW” not “MackiNACK” despite its spelling. (I knew that because I spent a few years of my childhood in Michigan just an hour south of the Island.)

It’s in the Straits of Mackinac, the 3.5-mile stretch of water that connects Lakes Michigan and Huron, and divides Upper and Lower Michigan.

My sister, Lisa, and I visited the Island several decades after our first time there—a 6th grade class trip for each of us when our family lived there.

It’s a place you’ll want to visit, too!

No Motor Vehicles Allowed

Highway M-185 that circumnavigates Mackinac Island is the only state highway in the country on which motor vehicles aren’t allowed.

The ban was enacted into Island law in 1898 with the arrival of the “horseless carriage” and has never been rescinded. It’s part of what makes this place so unique! For more history on this, click here.

Only bicycle and foot traffic are allowed—foot traffic including the 4-footed hoofed kind. In fact, horses are the main mode of transportation for work (like garbage pickup) and groups (like tourists). And therefore you do need to watch your step!

Bring Your Own Bike or Rent One Easily

Biking your way around Mackinac Island is the best experience because it’s the easiest way to cover the most ground in the shortest amount of time.

You’re welcome to bring your own bike on the ferry, for a moderate charge. Or there are many bike rental shops on the Island once you get there.

Since my sister and I were on a road trip without our bikes, we paid the $40 or so to rent one for about 4 hours. I had, of course (being me), checked out the options ahead of time and knew which company to go with. We could rent by the half-day or hour rather than a full day, which is what we wanted.

The rental bikes usually come with a front basket. Beyond looking quaint, the baskets were very handy to carry our day bags, as well as the outer layers that came off as the temps grew warmer.

There are bike racks at every public place of interest on the Island. We didn’t worry about locking them, as no one else did either. You’ll want to take any valuables with you, but we left water bottles and clothes in the baskets without a problem.

I read somewhere that if you plan to stay overnight on the Island, check with your lodging place. Some of them rent bikes to their guests, and you might get a better deal going through them.

Bike the 8.2-Mile Perimeter

Highway M-185, otherwise known as Lake Shore Drive, is an 8.2 mile loop around the Island. It’s almost all flat, as its right on the shoreline, and easy to bike.

Some of the highlights of this loop include:

• Several historical sites, including areas of skirmish between British and American troops from the late 1700s and early 1800s.
• The beautiful white pebble beaches—take your time to see them!
• Views of the Mackinac Bridge that connect Upper and Lower Michigan over the Straits.
• Constant views of beautiful Lake Huron.
• Easy access to the Island’s most famous natural feature, Arch Rock. You’ll also see it from the road if you look up.

Bike the Inland (Hilly!) Roads & Trails

There are also several roads that criss-cross the Island you can bike. Most of these are either uphill or downhill! We had to walk our bikes up a couple of the biggest, longest hills.

It’s worth getting into the interior, though. Here are some highlights:

• Gorgeous neighborhoods and flowers
• Fort Mackinac, a British stronghold back in the day. There’s a moderate charge to go inside the Fort.
• Mackinac Island State Park has a network of hiking trails. The park covers 80% of the Island, actually, which is something I hadn’t realized before this trip.
• Fort Holmes—a replica of a small fort on the Island’s highest point with amazing views. No charge for this one.
• Cemeteries with graves dating back to the early 1800s. I have a thing about old cemeteries. I like to imagine what life might’ve been like for these folks. There are three cemetaries on the Island, one military and two civilian.

Be Sure to Visit Grand Hotel

One of the world’s most famous hotels and its largest summer hotel, Grand Hotel is a sight to behold. The building itself, with its 660-foot front porch, is impressive and can be seen from miles away. But the grounds—oh my goodness!

The flowers in summer at Grand Hotel are absolutely gorgeous. Not just the cultivated flower beds and boxes along the drive and next to the building. Those are stunning. But there are plenty of flowering trees and shrubs, and an acre or two of wildflowers included in the landscape design.

It’s delightful to walk the grounds and enjoy the beauty, the elegance and the view.

We didn’t choose to go inside for High Tea or lunch, but for quite a lot of money, you can! If you’d like the experience of staying at this marvelous place, room rates start at $395 a night…per person. Their best 400-square foot suites with private balconies and views of the Mackinac Bridge can run $2,800 a night, depending on the season!

Tips for a Better Mackinac Island Bike Experience

Here are a few tips based on our biking experience on Mackinac Island:

Get There Early

We caught the ferry from St. Ignace at about 8:30 on an overcast and cool August morning. If I remember right, it was a Friday. When we got to the Island there were just a handful of other tourists that early.

There were no lines at the bike rental places yet, and hardly any “traffic” in town. The first 3/4 of our bike tour around the Island was with very limited traffic.

By the time we got back to the main part of town again in mid-day, congestion on the main street and in the shops was in full swing.

Make Your Bike Easy to Find

Because most people rent bikes, and they all look somewhat alike, we found it was helpful to keep brightly colored items in our baskets so our bikes were easy to find among the masses. For example, I kept my red flannel shirt in my basket.

It’s not as important at the less-traveled spots like British Landing. But in the bike racks across the street from Grand Hotel, you’ll have to distinguish yours from several hundred others! Make it easy to find and remember where you park it.

Take Your Time and Enjoy Your Day

We couldn’t spend the whole day on the Island because we still had to drive from St. Ignace to Iron Mountain later that afternoon.

But plan to spend at least half a day with your bike to get a good immersion experience. A whole day would be even better, especially if you want to take time to tour some of the sites or do other activities.

Don’t Forget the Famous Fudge

Mackinac Island is famous for its fudge, and you can smell it along the main street! In some of the fudge shops you can watch them make it.

There are dozens of varieties to choose from, and the shops are very accommodating in letting you choose small amounts of several flavors to bring home.

Other Active Ways to Enjoy Mackinac Island

There are other ways to be active on Mackinac Island if you have the time. I’d love to go back someday for #2 and #3 especially!

• There are 70+ miles of hiking trails on the Island, most of which are inside the state park—which is most of the Island. Access the trailheads by bike, then get off and hike for a while for a change of pace. We did this at Arch Rock.
• There’s a kayak outfitter on the Island if you want to see it from the water and enjoy crystal clear Lake Huron. Of course this is weather-dependent. The day we were there was beautifully calm but we didn’t have the time, unfortunately.
• You can see parts of the Island by horseback if you choose. There are a couple stables where you can ride in a group with a guide and pay by the hour. Sure, the horse does most of the work—but what a relaxing and fun way to see this unique destination!

How to Get There

Make your way to either the relaxed little seaside town of St. Ignace in the Upper Peninsula or bustling, touristy Mackinaw City in the Lower Peninsula (they must’ve gotten tired of correcting peoples’ pronunciation, lol!).

[NOTE: You’ll pay a toll every time you cross the big Bridge, so plan your trips between these two towns wisely.]

Two companies offer ferries to the Island from both these towns every 20 minutes or so, from the end of May to the end of October. Sheplers and Star Line have their own prices, packages and schedules, so see which works best for you.

There are two very helpful websites: one is by the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau and the other is Mackinac.com. They have all kinds of info about lodging, eating and things to do.

Nature + Quaint = Unique Destination

Sure the crowds aren’t quaint, but Mackinac Island is a really nice blend of the natural world and a bustling tourist destination that’s totally unique.

If you’re not into the touristy thing, avoid Mackinaw City and don’t visit the Island during the summer. Shoot for shoulder season instead (the ferries start in mid-April and run through October).

But this place is so unique it’s worth a visit at least once—even if you can only go in the summer. Get there early like we did and you’ll have more elbow room for a while.

There’s plenty of nature-based activity available on the Island itself, and there’s ever-present Lake Huron with its clear, green water and white pebble beaches.

Mackinac Island offers a super combo of outdoor activity, history and charming small town. Yes, it’s very touristy, but it has its out-of-the-way places, too. Put it on your To-Go list!

Here’s more…

• Going-to-the-Sun Road is a National Treasure
• Water and Its Importance in the Bible
• 20 of the Best Bible Verses about Nature

The post Ride a Bike for the Best Mackinac Island Experience first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

I love how the Amplified Bible expands on this verse because it expresses how the Lord enriches our lives with light in a couple of ways.

First, “You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine…”

Next, “The Lord my God illumines my darkness.”

Let’s take those one at a time:

“You cause my lamp to be lighted”

While the psalmist wrote this hundreds of years before Jesus lived and ministered on the earth, my first thought when reading it is that Jesus is the One who causes my lamp—our lamps—to be lighted.

Matthew 5:14 says, “You are the light of [Christ to] the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

Phillipians 2:14-15: “Do everything without murmuring or questioning [the providence of God], so that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish in the midst of a [morally] crooked and [spiritually] perverted generation, among whom you are seen as bright lights [beacons shining out clearly] in the world [of darkness]…”

(There’s much more to that passage before and after as well.)

You and I—all who follow Jesus—are His light in the world. In our families, our communities, among our friends and co-workers.

And He is the one who causes our lamps to glow. Who provides that light as we stay plugged into Him.

He’s like the power grid our homes are connected to. The lamp in the room doesn’t provide the light, the electrical current does that through the lamp. Then the lamp lights up the room.

So when we’re plugged into Jesus, He provides that light—His light—to shine for those around us.

“You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine…”

“The Lord God illumines my darkness”

John 8:12 says: “Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

And John 12:46 says: “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes and trusts in Me [as Savior—all those who anchor their hope in Me and rely on the truth of My message] will not continue to live in darkness.”

It was King David who wrote Psalm 18. He knew the Lord well, and knew first-hand how the Lord illumined his darkness, especially in those years when he was running for his life.

It’s that same Lord who put on flesh centuries later to tell those living in Israel then: “He who follows me will not walk in darkness.”

Even though the darkness is real, His light illumines it. His light pushes back the darkness so we can see our way.

Massive Lights in Nature

We can see many examples of light in nature that illumines the darkness of night.

The most obvious is the biggest light of all (at least from our vantage point)—the sun.

The sun rises to push back darkness every morning. Its light is so immense and far-reaching that nighttime turns to daylight—even from 93 million miles away.

The moon is the second largest natural light we see all the time. And yet it isn’t really light, it just reflects the light of the sun.

(Kind of like how we merely reflect the light of Jesus. Another way to think about the way He causes our lamps to be lighted.)

But when it’s full, the sky is clear and the night is dark (no city lights to compete with it), we can walk around without any other manmade light. It’s that bright.

I especially love this when we’re up in the northwoods in the winter. A few feet of snow covers the ground and on nights with a full moon it’s almost like walking around in the daytime. So cool!

The Creator made “the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night” (Genesis 1:16). They’re a wonderful picture of the way He offers us His light in our darkness.

Smaller Light in Nature

One of the most obvious smaller natural lights is fire, be it a candle or a campfire. Though, of course, not nearly as bright as the sun and moon, fire is still bright enough to see by.

When we’re sitting around a campfire, we can see the faces of our family and friends. For most of human history, fire was the only source of light for peoples’ homes in the form of candles, lamps and fireplaces.

So when we read in Psalm 18 that “the Lord my God illumines my darkness” we know exactly what that means. We can totally relate.

He provides the light we need to live by.

Why This Is Encouraging

This is encouraging because we know by experience that light always pushes back darkness.

Even one candle can shine a pretty big light when you bring it into a dark room. A headlamp, small as it is, can light your way in the wilderness at night without a problem.

Like that, in our spiritual and emotional lives the Lord can shine His light into the darkness of depression or grief or confusion. His light shines into the darkness of evil and corruption.

One of my favorite verses in the whole Bible is John 1:4-5:

“Eternal life is in him [Jesus], and this life gives light to all mankind. His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.“ (TLB**)

*The Amplified Bible is published by the Lockman Foundation.

**The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Here’s more…

• 116 Verses in the Bible that Talk About Light
• How God Speaks Through Signs in the Heavens
• Uplifting Devo Ideas for Your Next Camping Trip

The post The Light of the Lord Shines in the Darkness first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

If you haven’t read through the Bible looking for it, you may not notice that God’s identity as Creator isn’t limited to the first couple chapters of Genesis.

The creation story is the obvious place where we’re first introduced to this Almighty God (Elohim in Hebrew).

The scriptures tell us He made light, separated the waters and made dry ground, created our sun and stars and other heavenly bodies, made the plants, sea animals, birds, land animals and finally humans.

Then many times throughout the rest of scripture the authors remind us of that: God is the Creator or Maker of heaven and earth. These are usually in the context of some kind of life lesson.

Let’s take a look at some of those verses and see if we can figure out what those lessons are.

[I’ll quote from the translation I use for my personal reading and study: The New American Standard Bible.]

Psalm 33:6-11

“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses.

“Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

“The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation.”

Life Lesson—Because the Lord made the heavens (v. 6), the living things in the heavens, and the deeps, therefore He is awesome. We, also made by Him, need to stand in awe of Him (v. 8). To have a healthy fear of Him. A respect of His power.

We look at the heavens—the vast distances…the sizes of planets, stars and galaxies…the mind-blowing numbers of galaxies—and we’re in awe of the One who spoke them into existence.

How often do I praise Him for His awesomeness? When I look up into the night sky…or stand next to mighty ocean waves…or marvel at a baby’s development…am I in awe of the Lord and His wisdom and power?

Life Lesson—This same Lord who made the heavens, et al, by His word can nullify the counsel of nations and frustrate the plans of people. His own counsel is rock solid.

Do I ask the Lord for His great wisdom to help me solve a problem in my work life or family?

Isaiah 40:28-31

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.

“His understanding is unsearchable. He gives strength to the weary, and to the one who lacks might He increases power.

“Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength.

“They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

This is one of scripture’s great comforting passages!

Life Lesson—When we’re exhausted, when we stumble, when we feel powerless this everlasting Creator God gives us the strength we need. He has an unending supply of it.

When I’m weary, He’s not. He can help me overcome my weariness. “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength”—the same strength He displayed as Creator of all things.

Will I wait on Him and draw on His strength when I so desperately need it?

Isaiah 43

This chapter of prophecy for the people of Israel has several references to God as Creator and why that matters for this message in this season:

“…this is what the Lord says, He who is your Creator, Jacob, and He who formed you, Israel: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.’ ” (verses 1-2)

The Lord created this nation, this people of Israel and claims them for His own. He promises redemption and deliverance.

Life Lesson—Because He was powerful enough to create them, He’s powerful enough to do these other things, too.

“Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’

“Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” (verse 5-7)

This passage is one of many in the Old Testament prophets where the Lord promises to bring the Jewish people back to the land of Israel. That’s been happening dramatically in the past 150 years or so, and especially since Israel’s independence in 1948.

Life Lesson—Each of us is formed by the Lord. Each of us. Personally. People called by His name are His sons and daughters and He takes care of each one. His purposes for His people will be accomplished by Him.

Do I talk to the Lord about my personal needs? About the needs of my loved ones? And if I’m “called by His name,” am I honoring His name in my choices, words and attitudes?

There’s more in Isaiah 43, but we’ll move on…

1 Peter 4:19

“Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God are to entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”

The Bible talks quite a lot about suffering, and this is an interesting verse.

What do you think Peter meant by those “who suffer according to the will of God”? My take-away is that he’s referring to those who are suffering persecution for following Jesus.

It could also mean those who, in the midst of suffering for any reason, maintain their trust in the Lord, like Job did. He never knew the reason for His suffering.

But we can still choose to do what’s right. To submit to the Lord’s sovereignty…to continue to trust even when we’re confused…and to honor His name even though.

Life Lesson—We can entrust our souls to a faithful Creator. Again, this God who has the power, wisdom and ability to bring about galaxies, planets, life, conscience…

This God, this Creator is able and faithful to redeem what the enemy means for evil. He’s able to fulfill His purposes for each of us personally and for His kingdom ultimately.

That’s good news!

Here’s more…

• 11 Wonderful Things in Our Natural World
• 116 Verses in the Bible that Talk About Light
• 9 Free Devotionals for Your Next Camping Trip

The post Why the Bible Reminds Us God is the Creator first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

I chose just 11 wonderful things in our natural world to highlight here. Some of them are closely related but still unique enough to merit their own spot.

These are all special in their own way:

1. Spider Webs and Spinnerets

As much as I think spiders are among the creepiest of living things, I know they serve an important role in nature. And so I’m grateful for spiders (as long as I don’t have to encounter them much—especially big ones!).

And their giftedness for architecture is truly wonderful. The silk glands in their abdomens produce different kinds of silk for different purposes.

This silk is so strong and flexible for its size that no human has successfully designed a synthetic material that’s anything close to it. And it’s not just the silk that makes spider webs strong, but the design of the webs as well.

[I wrote an entire blog post about this that you’ll find here.]

If you’re like me and don’t care much for spiders, it’s time to re-read Charlotte’s Web! The only book I know where the spider is the hero of the story.

2. Pollinators

Pollinators and the plants they pollinate are a great example of symbiotic relationships in the natural world.

Some plants can self-pollinate, while others can be pollinated by wind and water. And then there are the living pollinators in our world: insects like butterflies, moths and bees. Some birds are also on this team, like hummingbirds, and even small mammals, including some bats.

These animals collect pollen either intentionally or accidentally from one plant, then transfer it to another plant. Plants are fertilized and can reproduce due to this pollination activity.

In many of these cases, one living species completely depends on the other for survival—one for food and the other for reproduction. It’s amazing!

3. Honeybees

Speaking of pollinators, honeybees are some of the most beloved because they make one of mankind’s favorite treats—honey. Isn’t it amazing that humans love to eat this same sweet substance that the bees eat?

There are more than 60 references to honey in the Bible, some dating back more than 3,000 years.

Bees make honey by gathering pollen and nectar from flowers, and then mixing it with enzymes produced in their bodies. Each type of honey tastes unique, depending on the type of nectar gathered.

And it’s not just honey we get from honeybees. The beeswax these little guys produce to store the honey is also valuable. People make things like salves, candles and cosmetics with it.

4. Butterflies

Butterflies are also pollinators, as I already mentioned. And one of the coolest processes in nature is their metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly.

(All insects go through major changes as they mature, but butterflies are so beautiful we’ll focus on them.)

Who could guess—or come up with the idea—that these fat, crawly worm-like things that eat leaves will one day become graceful, beautiful, colorful, flying, nectar-eating insects?

What the…??

It’s true, though. It’s one of the first natural processes I remember learning about as a young child in school.

Metamorphosis. Wow.

5. Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is another amazing process that happens every day, everywhere in the world where plants live. It’s gone on for so long and we’re so used to it that we forget it’s a wonderfully amazing thing.

It’s quite a complicated process, but to summarize: Plants take in sunlight, water and carbon dioxide which is then synthesized within the plant to produce food and grow.

It just so happens that people and animals breathe out carbon dioxide so there’s a constant and ample supply for the plants. And it just so happens that plants “breathe out” oxygen, which people and animals must have to live. Another symbiotic process on a massive scale!

(“Just so happens” or designed that way?)

6. Bird Feathers

One source I found says, “…feathers are a marvel of natural engineering, each serving a specialized function to help birds thrive in their environments.”

[Everything we’ve looked at here so far has been a marvel of natural engineering. How many civil, mechanical, electrical and bioengineering products came about completely by chance? None, actually. All were designed by very smart and skilled people. This is one of the reasons why believing there’s an incredible Mind behind the natural world is so compelling. These marvels of natural engineering.]

Birds have seven different types of feathers that serve different functions—thrust, speed, balance, airflow, warmth, buoyancy. Then there’s the structure of these feathers that allow for flight or swimming or the migration of thousands of miles.

We see them every day without stopping to notice how incredible they are.

7. The Colors of Bird Feathers

One of the reasons I love birds so much is ALL THE COLORS!

Some really stand out no matter where they are: parrots and cardinals, wood ducks and peacocks. Again, we have a seemingly limitless array of colors and patterns spread over the bird world.

But even the birds that seem plain and boring…look closely in some nice sunlight and there’s an iridescence to feathers that’s just gorgeous.

When I married Nick, he had a taxidermied pheasant rooster in a glass case with built-in lighting. I couldn’t believe the beauty of all the colors of those feathers when the lights would shine on them. What seemed dull was actually brilliant in good lighting. It’s the first time I’d been able to look that closely at a pheasant.

It’s just cool.

8. Symbiotic Relationships

I’ve mentioned this a lot already, but here’s a spot for it. Symbiotic relationships in nature are everywhere.

[I wrote an entire blog post on this one, too.]

The pollinators we discussed above. Clown fish and anemones. Monarch butterflies and milkweed. There are some species that literally cannot survive without it’s symbiotic partner species.

You’d think that would collapse the whole theory of evolution right there. How could two different species randomly evolve at the same time in such a way that one must depend on the other for survival? And then multiply that times the amount of symbiosis in nature. What are the chances?

These types of arrangements totally support design by an intelligent Mind, though. Did Someone very, very smart think up this process and create both species simultaneously? And all the other species that depend on symbiosis?

To me that seems much more credible than non-guided processes for things this complex.

9. Eagle Eyes

Actually, ALL eyes are marvels of the natural world. But I’ll focus on the eyes of eagles because they have some very cool abilities our human eyes don’t.

“Bald eagles can have 20/4 or 20/5 vision, meaning they can see four or five times farther than the average person. A bald eagle can spot prey the size of a rabbit three miles away!

“Eagle eyes are so huge they fill most of its skull. They also have a 340-degree field of view (compared to our measly 180 degrees) and have both monocular and binocular vision. This allows them to use each eye individually or together!”

That’s pretty incredible, isn’t it? Why do they need eyes that see so well? So they can spot a rabbit on the ground or a fish under the water as they soar high above.

Not only that, apparently they see in much more vivid color than we humans do. Wouldn’t that be cool?!

10. Dolphin and Whale Talk

Dolphins and whales are known to be some of the most intelligent animals on the planet, and are also very social.

Dolphins communicate with each other using whistles and body language—like slapping their tails on the water’s surface. In fact, dolphins seem to have “signature” whistles and can identify each other by them.

“How dolphins communicate…is both remarkable and indicative of their superior ability to initiate and maintain social bonds,” says one source.

Whales communicate with clicks, whistles and “songs.” Because many of these are exceedingly loud and sound travels further underwater than through air, whales are known to be able to communicate across vast ocean basins.

Don’t you wish you knew what they were saying??

11. Bat Radar

The way bats use echolocation (a fancy word for radar) is pretty astounding. They emit a high-pitched frequency that travels through the air, hits an object (like an insect they’d like to eat) and bounces back to their finely-tuned ears. They can pinpoint prey exactly using their radar.

“Bats can change their calls for different purposes. They have different searching, feeding, and social calls. And each species of bat has its own unique call pattern.”

How do you think bats (and dolphins and toothed whales, which also have a very refined system of echolocation) got this ability? If it was bit by bit over millions of years through natural selection, how were they able to eat in the meantime?

It’s high-level features like radar that have me convinced bats didn’t develop randomly over endless time but were designed with the ability already engineered in.

* * * * *

What wonderful things in the natural world are your favorites? I’m sure you have some!

Buy Today

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Here’s more…

• How God Speaks through Signs in the Heavens
• What Valuable Lessons Pearls Can Teach Us
• Nature’s Health Benefits for Body, Soul and Spirit

The post 11 Wonderful Things in Our Natural World first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

The exercise you choose to do is personal. We have different preferences. Some love to run. Others hate it. Some love to swim. Others would rather bike. One person might love to go to the gym, another might detest it.

The best type of exercise for you is the one (or two or three) that you enjoy. That moves your body in a healthy way multiple times a week. That you can keep doing for the long haul.

Consistency is the key.

Ways to Help Exercise Consistently

People who are consistently able to stay in shape over a lifetime have this in common: workouts are part of their lifestyle. They’ve chosen to prioritize exercise and are consistent week in and week out, year in and year out.

Here are some ways to help keep exercise consistent:

• Choose activities you enjoy. If you hate running, don’t decide to run five days a week. Do you love to swim? Get a membership at a local pool or find the closest beach.
• Choose a time of day that works with your schedule most of the time. Personally, I know I’m way less motivated in the evening than in the morning. So I exercise in the morning.
• Give yourself a day or two off each week. It’ll help motivate you to work out on your “on” days. And sometimes, knowing you get to take a day off tomorrow can be the boost you need to get your workout in today.
• Don’t set a goal you’re unlikely to fulfill. Set a realistic goal, starting with baby steps if you have to.
• Make it accessible. This includes having the right gear—including gear for adverse weather if you love outdoor fitness, like I do.
• Keep your exercise activities within your budget. Buy used equipment. Shop sales. If the gym is what you need, take advantage of the first week of January and other key “intro” seasons with drastically reduced prices.
• If you need other people to help keep you motivated, find at least one workout buddy. Schedule your workouts together. Maybe your dog can be your workout buddy. Most dogs are eager to go with you for a walk or run as often as you’re willing…and need the exercise as much as you do!

Work Your Whole Body

It’s best to choose two or three different types of exercise that work different muscle groups and body systems.

We’ve all heard of cardio and strength or resistance training. Cardio refers to your heart, lungs and circulatory system. Most cardio workouts also include at least some of your muscular-skeletal system, which is strength.

It’s also important, if at all possible, to choose at least one activity that’s weight-bearing—meaning you’re on your feet. That’s important for bone strength, especially as we get older.

How Often and How Long?

The US government’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) publishes Physical Activity Guidelines.

Here’s there recommended amount of daily physical activity for various ages:

• Children ages 3-5 should aim for at least three hours of active play throughout the day. This is super important for their growth and their physical, mental and emotional development.
• Kids ages 6-17 need at least an hour of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily. This includes activities that makes their heart beat fast and activities that use lots of muscle groups, like playing on the playground.
• Adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio a week (and preferably 300 minutes). In addition, some strength or resistance workouts 2-3 times a week. That works out to 30-60 minutes 5 days a week or more. Which is why we want to choose something we enjoy!

What are “Moderate” Exercises?

We have lots of options for moderate exercise. Brisk walking (3 miles per hour or faster). Biking less than 10 miles/hour. Doubles tennis. Ballroom dancing. Water aerobics. Even general gardening.

150 minutes a week of any of those will contribute “substantial” health benefits in several areas. It’s better to spread the exercise out throughout the week (5 30-minute sessions). Each session can even be split, as long as each is at least 10 minutes long.

Even better? Up to 300 minutes—an hour for five days out of your week will contribute even more benefits to your overall health.

I’ve heard for years that we need at least three workouts a week. Stacking the minutes into only one or two days and the benefits are not nearly the same. I don’t know why that works, but somehow it does.

What are “Vigorous” Exercises?

Racewalking, jogging or running. Swimming laps. Singles tennis. Biking faster than 10 miles/hour. Hiking uphill or with a heavy pack. Gardening that includes hoeing or digging. Basically anything that raises your heart rate enough so it’s hard to carry on a conversation.

75 minutes a week of these can replace 150 minutes of more moderate activities. A good rule of thumb: 15 minutes of vigorous is worth 30 minutes of moderate.

For several years my exercise of choice was running. I could run 3 miles much faster than walk 3 miles. I no longer run due to a succession of minor injuries, but still enjoy walking almost every day. So I replaced my vigorous 30-minute workout for a moderate 60-minute workout.

It helps that in my current season of life, I have time to walk for an hour at a time. I realize not everyone does. That’s one of the reasons I liked running—the same benefits in half the time.

Include resistance training and stretching too

Part of those 150-300 minutes should include resistance or strength training a 2-3 times a week. These are activities that work the major muscle groups like weight training, push-ups, squats, etc.

Flexibility is also important, especially the older we get. Good old-fashioned stretching exercises are great. Pilates is a combo of stretching and strengthening that’s really effective too.

[NOTE: I know many people love yoga for its health benefits, but I don’t recommend it for spiritual reasons. I know that’s hugely controversial, but there it is. I’ve talked with and listened to both current and former Hindus, and they all testify to yoga being tied irrevocably to Hinduism.]

Gym or no gym?

Personally, I hate working out in a gym. I’ve done Pilates in my living room in the past, and currently have a resistance routine I do in my living room. Otherwise, I do my activity outside year-round, even through our Minnesota winters.

If you’re a lap swimmer or need to be in a class in order to stay motivated, by all means get a gym membership. But don’t forget, there are many, many benefits of being outdoors too that you can’t get from a gym.

When my kids were little, I had little choice but to A. join a gym (with child care) or B. get a treadmill. We bought a treadmill, and I used that for many years until I could leave them home alone during my runs.

If you absolutely can’t stand exercise but still agree to it because of your health, take advantage of podcasts and streaming services!

Other benefits beyond our health

One of my favorite things about being in shape at 60 is still being able to do all the outdoor activities I’ve always loved. Cross-country skiing. Canoeing—including the portaging we do up in northern Minnesota. Hiking a trail in the mountains.

At this stage of my life, one of my great motivators is being able to get on the floor to play with our little grandkids and keep up with our adult kids on family trips and outings.

Consistent exercise (or activity, if you don’t like that word) is one of those choices we make that draws dividends for years to come.

So what’s your plan?

If you’re inactive today, just start with something. Gradually work up to 30 minutes five times a week. Do what you like. Connect with a family member, neighbor or friend and do something together. Get a dog so you have an excuse to walk. Walk a neighbor’s dog if you don’t have one.

Are you already active? Maybe you can try something new for some variety (when I had to take up some biking during a foot injury, I found it wasn’t so bad after all!).

Really want an incentive? Sign up for a race, download a training plan and get to it. If you’re just getting started, sign up for a 5k. If that’d be too easy, go for a 10k or half marathon. Or a triathlon. Or a biathlon. They’re fun, many are for a good cause and you get a free t-shirt, mug or hat.

[I loved those years I was able to “compete” in long-distance races (“participate” is a much better word!). It was wonderful motivation and a supreme sense of accomplishment.]

Whatever you choose, do your best to be consistent and enjoy the many benefits of being fit!

Here’s more…

• Great News about Moderate Exercise and Longevity
• Exercise of All Kinds is Terrific for Brain Health
• Physical Inactivity is the #1 Health Problem of Our Time

The post What Kind of Exercise Is Best? first appeared on Heaven and Nature.

If you’re like me, you take light for granted most of the time. It’s a simple matter of flipping a switch.

But when we happen to be in situations without electricity—like backcountry camping or when we lose power during a storm—access to light becomes highly valuable.

Light shows up continually throughout the Bible, as we’ll see here. It’s physical and metaphorical. It’s used in blessing and judgment.

The scriptures’ use of light helps us understand more about God’s kingdom and ways.

Before we dig into those scriptures though, first let’s find out…

What IS Light?

“Light has properties of both a particle and an electromagnetic wave but not all the properties of either. It consists of photons that travel in a wave-like pattern.” (“What Is Light? Matter or Energy?” ScienceABC.com)

That’s the physics answer.

If you were explaining it to a 5-year old? Light is what helps us see things. It makes it not dark. Probably best explained by showing the difference—walk into a dark room and turn the light on, or walk into a lighted room and turn the light off.

(That’s the best I’ve got—what would you say?)

Our eyes are complex machines that turn light—these traveling wave-like photons—into images so we can see:

“Two molecules in the retina—vitamin A and a protein named ‘opsin’ that together make ‘rhodopsin’—capture single light photons. When light strikes the vitamin, it changes shape and becomes the molecule ’11-cis-retinal.’ This in turn changes the rhodopsin’s shape.

“When light activates enough of these molecular switches within the light-sensitive cell, they cause downstream biochemical systems to amplify and send the signal from the retina, through the optic nerve, and to the brain.

“This complex photochemical reaction is at the heart of what allows eyes to detect light and send signals that the brain can form into meaningful images.” (“Perfect Molecule for Vision Shows Eyes Were Designed” ICR.org)

God’s Creation of Light and Provision of Literal Light

The Bible teaches that God is the Creator of light. It was the first physical thing He spoke into existence.

1. Genesis 1:3-5

“God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.”

2. Genesis 1:14-18

“God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,’ and it was so. 

“God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars. 

“God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.”

One might wonder how there could be light before the sun, moon and stars were created. Scientists now know the answer to that:

“Actually there are many sources of light, not just the sun. There are also many types of light, not just visible light. Short-wave light includes ultraviolet light, X-rays, and others.

“Long-wave light includes infrared light, radio waves, etc. Light is produced by friction, by fire, by numerous chemical reactions, as well as the nuclear reactions of atomic fission and fusion, which is what we think is occurring in the sun.

“God had at His fingertips many options to accomplish His purposes. Light does not automatically require the sun.” (“Sunlight Before the Sun” ICR.org)

3. Exodus 10:23

“They [the Egyptians] didn’t see one another, and nobody rose from his place for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

Thick darkness was one of the plagues just prior to the Exodus. It was a way the Lord distinguished between the Hebrews and the Egyptians. The sons of Israel had light.

Can you imagine a darkness so thick you couldn’t do anything for three days?

[More on how God uses light and darkness in His judgments a bit later.]

4. Exodus 13:21

“Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night.”

And the Lord continued to provide miraculous light for His people for years afterward.

5. Psalm 78:14

“In the daytime He also led them with a cloud, and all night with a light of fire.”

The psalmist’s retelling of the Lord’s provision for His people.

6. Psalm 105:39

“He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night.”

A retelling via song of the history of the Israelites, including the Exodus.

7. Psalm 136:7-9

“To Him who made the great lights; for his loving kindness endures forever; the sun to rule by day; for his loving kindness endures forever; the moon and stars to rule by night; for his loving kindness endures forever…”

Practically speaking, these lights—the sun, moon and stars—help the rest of creation in so many ways.

We see by them—even the moon, which isn’t a source of light, but merely reflects the sun’s light. We can navigate by the stars. The sun’s light is essential for the plant world to grow and thrive.

8. Ecclesiastes 11:7

“Truly the light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing for the eyes to see the sun.”

Amen!

9. Ecclesiastes 12:1-2

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them.’ Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars are darkened…”

Ecclesiastes isn’t my favorite book of the Bible—honest confession—but I think the writer is referring to human aging here.

The gist is for us to be thankful for the blessings we have from the Lord, and appreciate them while we can. Especially while we’re young!

10. Isaiah 45:7

“I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.”

A prophetic declaration that confirms the first few chapters of Genesis.

11. Jeremiah 31:35

“Yahweh, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar; Yahweh of Armies is his name…”

The Lord continually reminds us in His book of His creative power and generosity to us!

12. Acts 9:3

“As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him.”

This is Saul/Paul’s “Damascus road” experience of meeting Jesus, who he had been persecuting.

Light emanates from the risen Jesus! The Apostle John describes the Son of Man (what Jesus called Himself) he encounters in Revelation 1: “His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.”

No wonder Paul was struck with blindness!

13. Acts 12:7

“And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, ‘“’Stand up quickly!’ His chains fell off his hands.”

Do angels emanate light, too? I don’t know, but it’s pretty cool if they do!

14. Acts 22:6, 9, 11

This chapter is Paul’s testimony that he shares with an unruly mob in Jerusalem. He describes this Damascus road experience with Jesus:

“As I made my journey, and came close to Damascus, about noon, suddenly a great light shone around me from the sky.”

“Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they didn’t understand the voice of Him who spoke to me.”

” “When I couldn’t see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.”

15. Acts 26:13

Paul shares his testimony again before King Agrippa and other royalty in Caesarea, including his encounter with Jesus:

“at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me.”

16. Revelation 21:23-24

 “The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.”

17. Revelation 22:5

“There will be no night, and they need no lamp light or sunlight; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.”

The end of all things as we know it will culminate in the new heavens and earth one day. The city, the New Jerusalem, will be illuminated with the very light of the Lord God and of the Lamb, Jesus.

Oil for Light in the Tabernacle

The Lord gave specific and detailed instructions to Moses about how things were to be with the Tabernacle during the years the sons of Israel were in the wilderness.

These instructions include what would provide light in this dwelling place of the Lord.

18. Exodus 25:1-2, 6

“Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they take an offering for me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take my offering…oil for the light…’ “

19. Exodus 27:20

“You shall command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.”

20. Exodus 35:8, 14, 28

Moses now takes the Lord’s instructions and passes them on to the Hebrew people. Those with a willing heart are to bring…

“…oil for the light…the lampstand also for the light…the spice and oil for the light…”

21. Exodus 39:37

And then a section that describes all Moses and the people brought and crafted for the Tabernacle, according to the Lord’s instructions…

“…the pure lampstand, its lamps, even the lamps to be set in order, all its vessels, the oil for the light…”

22. Leviticus 24:1-2

“Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.’ “

23. Numbers 4:9

Next, the Lord instructs Moses on how the articles of the Tabernacle are to be carried when they travel throughout the wilderness:

“They shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, its lamps, its snuffers, its snuff dishes, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it.”

24. Numbers 8:1-3

“Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron, and tell him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.’ Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light the area in front of the lampstand, as Yahweh commanded Moses.”

Light as Metaphor

Many, many Bible verses compare things and situations to light.

As we’ve seen so far, LIGHT is GOOD! In the physical world, it’s absolutely essential for life to exist.

(Not sure what to do with those life forms at the bottoms of the deep oceans—we won’t deal with those here, haha!)

Let’s look at metaphorical references to light in the Old and New Testaments:

25. 2 Samuel 23:4

“The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain.’ “

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

26. Job 18:5

“The light of the wicked will be put out. The spark of his fire won’t shine.”

That doesn’t sound so good.

27. Psalm 18:28

“For You will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.”

Don’t you love this? Even in the darkest times, God’s light can shine.

This reminds me of a quote I’ve heard often from Corrie ten Boom during her time in the concentration camp with her sister, Betsy.

At one point, Betsy tells Corrie: “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.”

We can adapt that thought: “There’s no darkness so dark that’s God’s light can’t shine through it.”

28. Psalm 56:13

“For you have delivered my soul from death, and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.”

That is an amazing Hope.

29. Psalm 90:8

“You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.“

It’s the mercy of the Lord that exposes our secret sins in His light. Why? So we can repent, be forgiven and experience joy in His presence.

30. Ps 119:105

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

Kind of like a flashlight or headlamp on a trail at night in the wilderness!

31. Psalm 119:130

“The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.”

All of Psalm 119 is about the preciousness of the word of God. When we bring His word into our lives, it gives us light.

32. Psalm 139:11-12

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,’ even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.“

33. Proverbs 4:18

“But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.”

You know how beautiful a sunrise can be? That’s the beauty of the path of righteousness.

34. Proverbs 6:23

“For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life…”

Isn’t that interesting? We think of rules as confining. But this word of wisdom is: No, the law of the Lord lights your way. It brings freedom.

35. Proverbs 13:9

“The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.”

36. Ecclesiastes 2:13

“Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.”

37. Isaiah 2:5

“House of Jacob, come, and let’s walk in the light of Yahweh.”

An invitation.

38. Isaiah 5:20

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

39. Isaiah 10:17

“The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.”

Sounds like judgment and rescue to me. God is the light of Israel, the Holy One.

40. Isaiah 42:6-7

” ‘I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness. I will hold your hand. I will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.’ “

Isaiah 42 is, I believe, a Messianic prophesy. The fulfillment is in Jesus Christ.

41. Isaiah 42:16

” ‘I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them.’ “

The Lord God’s promises to His people. Wow.

42. Isaiah 50:10

“Who among you fears Yahweh and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name, and rely on his God.”

Because the Lord is our light in the darkness.

43. Isaiah 60:1-3

“ ‘Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you. For, behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but Yahweh will arise on you, and His glory shall be seen on you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.’ “

Because we walk in the light of the Lord, His light shines through us to others around us. We can be beacons of light in a dark world.

44. Matthew 6:22-23

 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

45. John 5:35

“He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.”

Jesus is talking about John the Baptist here—the one who came to prepare the way for Jesus. Once Jesus arrived, we rejoice in His light rather than that of another human.

46. Romans 13:12

“The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.”

47. 2 Corinthians 6:14

“Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?“

48. 2 Corinthians 11:14

“…even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.”

Part of a teaching by Paul about false teachers.

49. Ephesians 5:13-14

“But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light. ¹⁴ Therefore he says, ‘Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’ “

The “all things” in this passage is sin—the “unfruitful deeds of darkness.” Jesus shining His light and exposing sin is GOOD!

50. 2 Timothy 1:10

“Christ Jesus…abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News.”

51. 1 John 1:6-7

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.”

One of the great promises of the New Covenant in Jesus! To walk in the light is to walk openly and doing what is right before God and others, confessing and repenting of sin and coming into freedom.

52. 1 John 2:8

“On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.”

Light As a Gift

Can you imagine a world without light? A life without light? It would be unthinkable.

Where I live in Minnesota, a northern climate, I know many people who say they really struggle emotionally through our winter. The nights are long and the days are short.

In other words—there’s less light each day. It’s hard for many to endure long hours of darkness.

So what do we do to help? Turn on light! Light candles…keep the fairy lights going after Christmas…turn on more lamps.

Likewise, most of us are surrounding by plenty of spiritual darkness. Will we accept the Lord’s wonderful gift of spiritual light? Mental and emotional light, just as we love the physical light?

Here are a bunch of scriptures that tell of one of God’s most precious gifts:

53. Job 33:28-30

“He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life will see the light. Behold, God does all these things…to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.”

Redemption. Hallelujah!

54. Psalm 4:6

“Many say, ‘Who will show us any good?’ Yahweh, let the light of Your face shine on us.”

55. Psalm 27:1

“Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?”

Would you agree that things look more scary in the dark? Our minds go to all kinds of scenarios when we see an object. Then the lights come on and it turns out to be perfectly harmless—like a big rock instead of a bear!

Because the Lord is our light, we don’t have to fear.

56. Psalm 36:9

“For with You is the spring of life. In Your light we will see light.”

57. Psalm 43:3

“Oh, send out Your light and Your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy hill, to your tents.”

Yes, Lord! Amen.

58. Psalm 44:3

“For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You were favorable to them.”

We win our battles through the Lord, not our own strength. What a relief! Verses like these keep me focused on living rightly before Him so that light, that favor is over my life.

How about you?

59. Psalm 89:15

“Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of Your presence, Yahweh.”

This is for the worshipers! What a motivation to “learn to acclaim” Him every day. To stay in an attitude of worship and praise before Him Monday through Saturday as well as Sunday!

60. Psalm 97:11

“Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”

Here, light is paired with gladness. Our submission and obedience to the Lord plant seeds of light and gladness in our lives. That’s a gift!

61. Psalm 112:4

“Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous.”

Since the New Covenant, this light comes from Jesus’ life within us. The darkness can’t stop the sun from rising and bringing its light over the earth.

The forces of spiritual darkness can’t stop Jesus’ light from rising in the lives of His people.

62. Psalm 118:27-28

“Yahweh is God, and He has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will give thanks to You. You are my God, I will exalt You.”

This is an interesting one for those of us living after the time of ritual sacrifices. Maybe: Because He has given us light, our thanks and praise are our sacrifice to Him.

63. Proverbs 29:13

“The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: Yahweh gives light to the eyes of both.”

[Interesting note here: The translators of the WEB, the version we use here due to its being in the public domain, translated the word for light to sight. But the original Hebrew is or which means light. So I changed WEB’s translation to match.]

This is what we call “common grace.” All people receive God’s physical gift of light, because they live on the earth He created. Good and bad, rich and poor—all reap the benefits of light.

64. Isaiah 9:2

 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The light has shined on those who lived in the land of the shadow of death.”

This verse is part of one of the great Messianic prophecies in Isaiah. The light is Jesus.

65. Isaiah 51:4

“Listen to Me, My people; and hear Me, My nation,
for a law will go out from Me, and I will establish My justice for a light to the peoples.”

66. Isaiah 58:8-10

“Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer. You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly; and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday.”

Here, light is paired with healing and is a direct result of living rightly before the Lord and people.

67. Micah 7:8-9

“Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of Yahweh, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light. I will see His righteousness.”

The wonderful judgment, forgiveness and redemption of the Lord always leads to living in the light.

68. 2 Corinthians 4:5-6

“For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake, seeing it is God who said, ‘Light will shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

And as we share Jesus with others, we give them a chance to live in His light, too.

69. Colossians 1:12-14

“…giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.”

This is the last part of Paul’s wonderful prayer for the Colossian church and God’s people everywhere. It starts in verse 9.

Our inheritance through Jesus is as saints in light—transferred from the power of darkness to His own kingdom. Wow! What a gift.

Light & Darkness as Judgment

God so created His world as to give people—all people—the freedom to choose to follow Him or not.

The Bible is crystal clear on the results of that choice for each of us. Here are some verses that highlight this:

70. Isaiah 50:10-11

“Who among you fears Yahweh and obeys the voice of His servant?
He who walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name, and rely on his God. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves, walk in the flame of your fire, and among the torches that you have kindled. You will have this from my hand: you will lie down in sorrow.”

Again, WEB’s translation is a bit off from the original Hebrew, according to Strong’s. The word translated sorrow here is maatsebah. It literally means torment.

I understand this passage to mean that if I try to make my own light (“the torches you have kindled”) rather than turn to the Lord for His light, the result is torment. Yikes. This is serious business.

71. Isaiah 59:9

“Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness doesn’t overtake us. We look for light, but see darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.”

72. Jeremiah 13:16

“Give glory to Yahweh your God, before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it deep darkness.”

73. Jeremiah 25:10

“Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.”

All these blessings—much of what we take for granted due to common grace—are from the Lord. When He removes Himself, these blessings are removed, too.

74. Lamentations 3:2

“He [God] has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.”

In the first section of this chapter in Lamentations, Jeremiah is talking about how the Lord brought him through all these dark things and places. But then he reverts into one of the great statements of faith in the Bible, starting in verse 22.

Sometimes darkness is part of the Lord’s plan to lead us into His light.

75. Ezekiel 32:8

” ‘I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you, and set darkness on your land,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”

The Lord is serious about righteousness and sin in our lives.

76. Amos 5:18, 20

“ ‘Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It is darkness, and not light…Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?’ “

I’m pulling these Old Testament scriptures out of a broader prophetic context. So be sure and read the surrounding text to understand this judgment of darkness.

77. Zechariah 14:6-7

“It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost. It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light.”

Again, it’s important to read these judgment verses in the context of the whole.

And if you’ve bought into the misconception that judgment is only in the Old Testament…

78. Matthew 24:29

“But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken…”

Said Jesus, talking of the times of the end.

79. Mark 13:24

“But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light…”

Same conversation from Mark’s gospel.

80. Luke 12:3

“Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”

We can’t hide from the Lord. That’s my take on this one.

81. 1 Corinthians 4:5

“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.”

Same idea.

82. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

“Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.”

The sad reality is that some people choose unbelief. This verse indicates that as a result of unbelief, the light of Jesus is veiled to them. It should compel us to intercession for them!

83. Revelation 8:12

“The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars; so that one third of them would be darkened, and the day wouldn’t shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way.”

The absence of light is darkness. This is part of the prophetic revelation given to John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, of what will take place in the last days.

84. Revelation 18:23

“The light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you; for your merchants were the princes of the earth; for with your sorcery all the nations were deceived.”

Similar to Jeremiah 25:10 earlier in this section, when the Lord pulls His presence away, the result is darkness and misery. Everything good we have in this earth, in this life, is because of Him. Rebellion and sin against God brings judgment eventually.

God’s Relation to Light

Here are even more verses in the Bible that show how light is essential to who God is. It’s part of Him.

85. Psalm 104:2

“He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.”

86. Isaiah 60:19-20

“The sun will be no more your light by day; nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will not go down any more, nor will your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will end.”

Wow, what a promise! This is emphasized again at the end of the Bible in Revelation 21 and 22 (we already listed those passages above in the first section).

87. Ezekiel 1:4, 27-28

“I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness around it, and out of the middle of it as it were glowing metal, out of the middle of the fire…

“I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around.”

This heavenly vision given to Ezekiel is full of light in various forms.

88. Daniel 2:22

“He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.”

This is part of Daniel’s prayer of thanks to the Lord after He revealed the secret of the King’s dream.

89. Habakkuk 3:4

“His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from His hand, where His power is hidden.”

Part of Habakkuk’s song of praise to the Lord.

90. Matthew 4:16

” ‘The people who sat in darkness saw a great light; to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.’ ”

Matthew is quoting from Isaiah 9 here.

91. Matthew 17:2

“He was changed before them. His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as the light.”

The transfiguration of Jesus as witnessed by Peter, James and John shortly before He went to the cross. They got to get a glimpse behind the curtain of who He really was—God in the flesh!

92. Luke 2:30-32

” ‘…my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.’ ”

The thanksgiving prayer of the aged Simeon when he got to see the Messiah first-hand in the temple, shortly after Jesus’ birth.

93. John 1:4-5, 9

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it…The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.”

Part of the apostle John’s description of Jesus at the beginning of his gospel account.

94. John 8:12

“Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.’ ”

95. John 9:5

” ‘While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ ”

Jesus isn’t shy about saying He who is.

96. John 12:46

” ‘I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.’ “

We definitely have a theme here!

97. Acts 26:23

” ‘…how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, He would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.’ ”

The apostle Paul giving his defense before King Agrippa and Festus in Caesarea, just prior to being sent to Rome. Again, Jesus’ purpose in coming, dying and being raised to life was to bring light to the darkness.

That’s redemption.

98. 1 Timothy 6:16

“He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power.”

99. James 1:17

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.”

100. 1 John 1:5

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.“

Revelation 21 and 22—the last chapters of the Bible—expound on how the new heavens and earth and the New Jerusalem won’t need the sun or moon for light, because God’s presence will literally be there to provide all the light needed.

We already listed these verses earlier, but I wanted to bring them up again here to reinforce that GOD IS LIGHT. It’s His nature.

Our Relation to Light

And that brings us, finally, to our relation to Light.

101. Isaiah 49:6

“I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”

Part of another Messianic prophecy…and part of our Great Commission as His people.

102. Isaiah 62:1

“For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.“

The promise of the New Jerusalem, foretold by Isaiah and reinforced at the end of Revelation. As the redeemed of the Lord, we’ll be part of this eternal city and her future.

103. Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

This is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Not only does He call Himself the light of the world, He calls His followers the same thing.

104. Mark 4:21-22

“He [Jesus] said to them, ‘Is the lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it put on a stand? For there is nothing hidden, except that it should be made known; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light.’ “

Again, Jesus says for us to let our lights shine brightly.

105. Luke 8:16-17

“ ‘No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container, or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed; nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.’ “

Luke’s version of Jesus’ same words.

106. Luke 11:33-36

“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn’t darkness. If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.”

107. Luke 16:8

“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.”

I think it’s an admonition not to be naive! Be innocent of darkness, but wise.

108. John 3:19-21

“This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”

I could’ve put this passage under the Judgment section too. It’s here because Jesus makes it clear we have a choice to choose the light or not.

Hate the light or hate the darkness. Choose.

109. John 11:9-10

“Jesus answered, ‘Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.’ ”

110. John 12:35-36

“Jesus therefore said to them, ‘Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.’ “

Jesus is talking about Himself as the light and our opportunity to embrace Him so we can have His light too.

111. Acts 13:47

” ‘I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’ ”

Again, a reinforcement of the Isaiah prophecy for Jesus and His followers.

112. Acts 26:18

” ‘…to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ “

This is another part of Paul’s defense before Agrippa and Festus. He’s relating to them his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road and Jesus’ commission for him for the rest of his life.

He—and we—are to have an active part in helping other people turn from darkness to light and follow Jesus.

113. Romans 2:19

“…you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness…”

114. Ephesians 5:8

“For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”

To walk as children of light means to live our lives so others can see Him in us, displaying the fruits of His Spirit: “…all goodness and righteousness and truth.” (verse 9)

115. 1 Thessalonians 5:5

“You are all children of light and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to darkness.”

We can’t live as both children of light and darkness. We must choose.

116. 1 Peter 2:9

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

We have our marching orders!

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(All verses are taken from the World English Bible, public domain)

Here’s more…

• Water and Its Importance in the Bible
• How God Speaks through Signs in the Heavens
• Lessons from the Pearl

The post 116 Verses in the Bible that Talk About Light first appeared on Heaven and Nature.