Suddenly, In Different Light

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those with whom his favor rests. Luke 2: 13 – 14.

We are being shown that the suddenly in our text, is a pure case of not connecting things. It is not as was previously shown. It is not a matter of the expected, as with the logical conclusion one makes, in our part of the world, where we connect thunder with lightning and flooding with rain. There they are, the shepherds, listening to one messenger from heaven, who has them no longer agitated and afraid, when suddenly hundreds more descend and join that one angel.

That was totally unexpected, unprecedented and unthought-of. There was no way that they could have even anticipated this action of God to send down from heaven, so many angels in their sight. This was totally rich, totally unbelievable and totally astounding for those poor, simple shepherds. There they were, receiving such a great honour, as to have God bless them so richly and now, He pours a multitude more of blessings on them. He never said, well, they have had sufficient, let Me give someone else a showing or telling. No! It was God’s good pleasure to pour out all on those shepherds. It was His will and desire to be extravagant to those unsuspecting shepherds.

But where is this taking us? To an unexpected place with our heavenly Father, where we are made to face a reality in our lives, which we must face and make a decision on.

Right here is our first Decision Point.

You have received a Spiritual, Holy-Ghost experience, which came upon you out of the blue, as it were. You were not fasting, you were not even in some prayer vigil; in fact you were not even in conscious prayer. You were going about your daily, mundane duties as usual, when God accosted you and spoke to you through His chosen vessel or medium. At first, you doubted, questioned and became very afraid. However, God the Holy Spirit has been your Helper and you have come to grips with it and have been made at peace and at ease with what you have received. Then suddenly, while in your surprised and mightily thankful responses, Father, Sovereign God, showers you with much more. You begin to wonder whether it is from God or not. Ideas begin to take root and you feel that this is not for you that you have so much already and so you become reluctant to accept the Lord’s undeserved bounty.

This is the Decision Point. It is either of God or of Satan. A decision must be made now, for life goes on and you cannot stand on the sidelines indefinitely. You must choose one way or the other. You either believe the Lord all the way, or not.

What is it that God has showered upon you, but you are too shy, too sceptical or too afraid to accept as for you?

May you look to and trust the Holy Spirit, who has brought you to this place of decision making, this Decision Point. May you lean heavily upon Him by faith to lead you aright.

Won’t you surrender this particular time to Him?