Ever-Increasing Light

A Messianic Daily Devotional

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

On and Irish Cliff

I remember a bright-eyed

girl, full of passion and

young hope, who sat on a

church-pew at 12 years-old

and sang an old hymn,

earnestly with holy hush

and sincere heart,

 

“Let the lower lights

keep burning, send the beam

across the way. Some poor

struggling, fearing seaman,

you may rescue, you may save.”

 

Drops of grace rained down

on me in that sanctuary and my

heart paused with the world in

rapture and sobriety as I

responded to the call to shine

for Jesus, to embrace the need to

go to the nations with the

Good News.

 

And here I stand in Ireland

decades later gazing upon a

lighthouse from a moss-grown

cliff as the Holy Spirit washes

over me a fresh call

to burn on in the dark,

to burn across the waves.

Some to resuce.

Some to save.

 

I brush away the tears

remembering  the little girl who

heard the call long ago.

I wonder where she is.

 

The Irish wind blows over me

and I taste salt on my lips. Oh,

that little girl is still here.

She’s still here,

burning,

still willing to go.

©Bonnie Saul Wilks

The call to be a light to the nations originated with the people of Israel. By the kindness of God, we are included and brought near to the blessings and callings of the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:11-13). As a Gentile believer, my sweetest church memories are hearing the call of God to be a missionary.

Missionary is a hated word among Jewish people and some Messianic believers and for good reason — such atrocity through the centuries done against God’s Ancient People in the name of the church or missions. Perhaps becoming a light in the darkness is more appropriate. When I responded, little did I know that it would mean serving the Jewish people around the world. My husband and I have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles and have shared the love of Yeshua with Holocaust survivors, the lost tribes of Africa, Jews in South America, across Europe and the former Soviet Union. It has been our greatest joy to be a light to Israel and to help them shine as a ight to the nations.

For more study…

Mark 16:15, Matthew 9:35-38, Psalm 126:6

Work it into daily life…

From time to time, the passion of your calling must be washed and renewed. Allow the Holy Spirit to remind you of your first calling to go and dedicate yourself with fresh courage and strength to do so. Make plans to go again and shine your light. If you have never taken a short-term or long-term missions trip, take the initiative. It will change your life.

©Bonnie Saul Wilks