From darkness to praise....

From darkness to praise....

Butte, Montana, has a three hour underground mining tour at the World Museum of Mining. Part of the tour is actually going into the underground mine with hard hats and their attached lanterns  lighting the path before your feet...you can see very little around you except where you lantern shines this round little circle...then to show another dimension the tour guide brought out the candles that were originally used in the mine. We turned off our lanterns as he lit the candle and hung it on the wall of the mine...less light....in the darkness...but light indeed in the darkness....those miners were skilled in their sight with their hand tools and muscles working day in and day out in the blasting and mucking out of the hidden treasures of the mountains...

Then, to round out the day, I went to a Christian music concert featuring the Bill Gaither Band at the Butte Civic Center...

What a contrast, from the darkness of a hole in the mountain to the gospel music resounding off the walls of the large building, sending out light to the soul.....

The first,  reminding me of the verse,
Psalm 119:105
 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
We had to keep our lanterns lit to find our way in the darkness...the candle was helpful, but is was nicer to have more light from the lanterns...

The second, reminding me of yet another scripture...
Psalm 100 New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 100
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2     Worship the Lord with gladness;
    come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
    and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

From darkness to praise...

Isn't that what we find when someone accepts the truth of the
Word???  Out of darkness into light...praise for their rescue to the salvation from the darkness we live in without God in our lives....

Thank YOU for the truths You show each day...the darkness without your light, the praise with your Lordship....

1 Thessalonians 2:6-8New International Version

6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 7 Instead, we were like young children among you. Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.