2 Timothy 3:2 English Standard Version (ESV) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

When a list of attributes appear in the bible do we examine our own attitudes and behaviors in comparison? Today ungrateful stands out. Ungrateful goes beyond an attitude of forgetful. We must not think of ourselves as ungrateful just because much of what we are experiencing at any particular moment is mind consuming.

Praise in worship is great but is that the attitude of gratefulness? Grateful should be connected to being saved out a circumstance, where we felt helpless, by the hand of God.

Psalm 121:1-2 English Standard Version

A Song of Ascents.

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
² My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Ascent is so often associated with effort, with the struggles of climbing to a higher ground. Yet it is our Lord who is our help and support in every effort to come closer to Him.

Psalm 18:35 English Standard Version (ESV) You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great.

Feeling ungrateful in the midst of dire circumstances is unwarranted. The fact that we can even stand during these troubling times is a sign of God’s loving mercy and we should try and remember that fact. We are human and pain comes in many forms. It is only a temporary distraction and not a truth.

Psalm 30:5 English Standard Version (ESV) For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime.^{[His favor is life]}  Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Dawn is inspiring when viewed from higher ground.

Revelation 22:16 English Standard Version (ESV) “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

2 Peter 1:19-20 English Standard Version

Christ’s Glory and the Prophetic Word

¹⁹ And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, ²⁰ knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.

What stands out here are two distinct issues. The prophetic word is fully confirmed, meaning that what has occurred has been witnessed over and over again. The second part is that some of the readers of this letter may not have been a witness to that prophetic word yet. “Until that day dawns” speaks to a coming event, one which will be personal because it occurs in the reader’s heart.

How do you tell believers that are inexperienced that there is more to this life in Christ than what they have seen? You cannot be specific because what Christ does in each of us is personal.  Pay attention to the light is an encouragement to the novice that a new day is about to dawn in their hearts.

The issue of a personal interpretation speaks to a unity of the Spirit in which the Spirit confirms that which is happening in our hearts is a common reality for those who have placed their faith in Christ. It is common knowledge that the promises of God are confirmed in the Spirit by a yes and amen but we do not all receive those promises at the same place in our walk with Christ? Some things take time.

The last verse of this opening chapter of 2 Peter is “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

While we may or may not be carried away as some have experienced, the Spirit in us can and will confirm it is of God. Hearing that is also a matter of experience. If a believer is not quite there yet, the dawn is coming. His promise is yes and amen.