Supper was just over when we heard the children running up from the river. “Come and see!” they called, and we all climbed down the bank to the sandy beach to share the wonder they had discovered. The setting sun made a pathway in the water of bright ripples, right to our feet.
The bright pathway came not just to all of us, but to each of us. It came right to my feet, and every one of us could say the same. That’s like God’s gospel message, isn’t it? It’s for all of us, but it’s for me, at this moment, right where I stand. We were silent with the hush of wonder.
Amy discovered something else to her great surprise. The sparkling pathway of light came with her when she ran along the sand. It stopped right at her feet when she stopped. And then it came back with her when she ran back along the water’s edge. A canoe crossed the bright pathway without changing it in the least. When the dark silhouette of the canoe was past, the pathway of sparkling light was there at her feet. Not even a big ship could change its direction for a moment. It might interrupt the pathway temporarily, but the light would return right to her feet just as before.
Rainbows are not like that. The tip of the rainbow will never shine on your toes. When God put the rainbow in the sky, He said, “I will look upon it.” Sometimes He allows us to see the beauty that He sees, but the rainbow was placed in our sky that we might remember that it is the token of God’s faithfulness to His promise. Whether we see it or not, He always looks upon it, even when it is not visible from the earth.
Fanny Crosby stood on a beach as Amy did, but she did not see a shining pathway. She was blind. Others described it to her, and she believed them and loved it. They also told her of the Lord Jesus who said, “I am the light of the world: he that [follows] Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:1212Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)). Fanny received Him as her very own Saviour and spent her life writing songs about Him. Now she is “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” in the land of endless light.
While we stood on the beach that evening, if an Asian girl on the other side of the world had risen early in the morning and run down to the beach, she would find that the same pathway of sparkling ripples reached to her toes too. God does not care about the color of your skin or the money in your pocket. He cares about you. He is the Light for all of us and for each of us, one by one. You are never lost in the crowd with God.
Soon the sun dipped behind the hills and the sparkling pathway of light was gone. The clouds glowed red and gold and then faded into darkness, and the stars twinkled in the night sky. The day was over on our side of the world as it began on the other side.
Before today is over, will you take Jesus as your Light and your Lord and your Saviour? If you refuse our invitation to “Come and see!” it will still be true that God is Light and He will shine forever, and we who are clean through the precious blood of Jesus will shine in His light with Him. He made the stars, and there are no stars in the night without Him. Do you choose Him, or do you choose darkness? You may choose now, but God makes no promise to save you tomorrow.
ML-10/19/1997