Of Life and Lighthouses
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you” (Psalm 32:8).
There’s a “Far Side" cartoon by Gary Larson drawn from the perspective of being on land and looking out to sea. A blackened lighthouse is in the foreground. In the background, headed full steam ahead for the lighthouse, is a large ship. Running frantically - with a box of light bulbs under his arm - is the panicking keeper of the lighthouse.
Who’s to say which we identify with more…? The Ship? Cruising along, yet to realize the inadequacies of its reference point. Or the lighthouse keeper? Desperately trying to avoid the impending disaster created by his own failure to take care of business.
If we’re honest, we can probably relate to both. We have often chosen less-than-reliable means for defining our course in life. Pleasure, self, retirement, family, all these and so many more have at times defined our cruise documents in life. And we have known the fear of hoping that our mistakes, even sins, don’t cost us and those we care about everything. With David in Adullam we all have pleaded: “I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy (Psalm 142:1).
But God’s got your back like a chair! Whether you’re feeling like the ship or the keeper today, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus has forgiven you. Your past is past. Jesus won’t give up on you and his promise to work all things for your good is still yours.
And the blessing on top of all that? The light in God’s light house never goes out. The LORD is always guiding us, giving us his Word as a reference point for kingdom reality, his grace through his sacraments, and showing us the way home through his promises.
Remember the college chef at Bishop High School who was sick and tired of students grabbing handfuls of chocolate chip cookies on the way out the cafeteria? These were, after all, Christian students. In frustration, the chef put a big sign next to the cookies that proclaimed in bold blue: “Take only one! God is watching!” Well, you know high schoolers. One kid put an almost identical sign over the apples at the end of the buffet line that proclaimed: “Take as many as you want. Gods got his eye on the cookies.”
The truth is Jesus has his eye on everything and on you. In fact, you are the apple of his eye. So, whether you feel like the ship or keeper today live loved by him and boldly for him.
