Photo by: NASA
"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." James 1:17
This verse is saying that every good thing we see happening in the world is from God. When we see people helping others - that is from God. When we see healing, whether from a scraped knee or cancer - that is from God. When we see an animal save a human - that is from God. Those who don't believe in God have no idea how much they owe him for the good in their lives.
This verse calls God the "Father of lights." What a beautiful name. Some say this could mean the stars in the heavens as in, "The Father of the stars." And he is that, since he created them. Others say it means all light: wisdom, truth, etc. But the next verse seems to justify calling God the "Father of the stars," because it speaks of the sun, moon and stars.
"With whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." The stars are eclipsed. The sun has spots. It's shadow moves along the earth. There are nova (stars exploding) and super nova happening all through the cosmos. The moon has its phases. The stars grow old, change in the growing and eventually die out.
God is not like that. He does not shift and change. He is who he is forever and ever. He is dependable. We don't need to wonder how he is feeling today. Good mood? Bad mood? No, God is love. He has always been love and ever will be. He looks on you with love, the love of a mother to her child.
"Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." Isaiah 49:15,16
May the Father of the Stars shine in our hearts and may his name be written in the palms of our hands.
