The Father of Heavenly Lights Sends You Blessings
By: Whitney Hopler
Bible Reading:
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” – James 1:17, NIV
The Father of the heavenly lights is such a wonderful name for God! It reminds you that the same God who listens to your prayers is the one who created the brilliant sun, the glowing moon, and every single star that glitters in the vast night sky.
The God who faithfully makes sure these heavenly lights appear regularly is just as faithful to send good and perfect gifts down into your life.
Every single morning, without fail, the sun rises. It pours out light and warmth that support all life on Earth. You don’t have to do anything to earn a sunrise, and you don’t have to worry about whether or not it will show up. Every sunrise is a gift from God. Your life is filled with other blessings from God that are so consistent you might not even notice them anymore, such as your heartbeat, the food you have to eat, and the people who love you. Just like the sun, these blessings are a constant sign of God’s faithful goodness to you. Sometimes, of course, your days feel cloudy. You sometimes go through challenging seasons that block out the warmth of God’s love. But just as the sun is still shining above the clouds, God’s goodness is still present in your life, even when you can’t feel it. The “Father of heavenly lights” is constant, and his good gifts are always being sent down into your life. When you see the sun in the morning, let it be your first reminder of the day that God’s goodness is here again for you.
When the sun sets each evening, a whole new display of God’s faithfulness appears. The moon rises, reflecting the sun’s light to guide your way. A huge number of distant stars start to sparkle in the sky. The moon and stars shine with steady light during dark nights. They can remind you of how God sends his light into the darkness of this fallen world with a steady glow that you can always find when you’re looking for God. You may see God’s light shining through your life in many different ways, like guidance to make an important decision or a strong sense of peace after you’ve prayed. The next time you look up at the night sky, think of the countless stars as a picture of God’s countless blessings. Many are small and easy to overlook, but together they create a breathtaking display of his constant care for you.
The verse concludes that God “does not change like shifting shadows.” Shadows move and change throughout the day. In the morning, they’re long, like they’re stretched out. At noon, they’re shorter. In the evening, they grow long again before disappearing into the night. Shadows are unreliable because they’re always changing.
Just like shadows, your feelings and your circumstances often change. But God is not like a shifting shadow. He is completely and eternally constant. Your Heavenly Father’s love for you doesn’t change, and neither does his good and faithful character.
The heavenly lights – like the sun, moon, and stars – appear in the sky faithfully. You can count on seeing those lights because of God’s design, and you can count on God – the Father of the heavenly lights – to send good gifts down into your life faithfully, as well. In this fallen world of shifting shadows, you can rely on your unchanging God to send you blessings regularly. Your only job is to look up and receive them with thankfulness!
Intersecting Faith & Life:
As you consider how God faithfully sends blessings into your life, reflect on these questions:
- How does thinking of God as the “Father of heavenly lights” change the way you think about a sunrise, a sunset, or a starry night?
- What is one “good gift” in your life that, like the sun, is so consistent you sometimes forget to thank God for it? Go ahead and thank God for it now.
- Think about an especially challenging period in your life. Reflecting on that time now, can you see any small glimmers of God’s faithfulness that were present even then?
- James 1:17 says that God “does not change like shifting shadows.” How does this promise encourage you when your feelings or circumstances are changing?
- What’s one way you can use the sky to remind you this week to thank God for his blessings?
Further Reading:
Hebrews 13:8
Psalm 19:1
Psalm 136:7-9
Lamentations 3:22-23
2 Corinthians 4:6
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/piyaset
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Related Resource: 9 Confusing Things about God– Answered By a Christian Philosopher
How can God be all-present (omnipresent) and yet be located in the temple and indwell believers? How can God know everything (omniscient) if He doesn't know what it is like to sin? How can God be a necessary Being if it is logically possible He doesn't exist? These are just a few of the tough, philosophical questions Sean McDowell discusses with William Lane Craig.
