Real Hope: Constant GodSample

Light And Shadow

‘The Father of the heavenly lights’ is a way of describing God that doesn’t appear anywhere else in the Bible. Found midway through the first chapter of James, it is a lovely image of the radiance of the God above all else. Oh, and how about it being a cool pointer to the divine nature of the light of the world (yes, Jesus)? Or am I reading too much into that?

What I’m not reading too much into is this: the Father of the heavenly lights being unchanging. In one of the most extreme examples you can imagine, the ‘does not change’ state of God is contrasted with ‘shifting shadows’.

Like a spindly tree’s shade on a hot but overcast day, shifting shadows are the essence of fleeting presence. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the eternal, steadfast, constant God. Our grabbing hold of such foundational truth can help us also to register what is dropped just before the ‘shifting shadows’ contrast.

‘Every good and perfect gift is from above’ sings the blessings of the God who does not change. A little earlier, James writes that, although trials will happen to us in life, God is not the tempter; rather, we are often the ones pursuing our own ‘evil desires’. Indeed, the God of wisdom (v5), endurance (v12), and righteousness (v20) cannot be tempted by evil.

Note that all these nod to God’s rock-solid adherence to His perfect, pure nature. This should encourage us all to rest assured in the certainty of what the Father of the heavenly lights says He has done, is doing, and will do.

Written by BEN MCEACHEN

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