The Dayspring from on High

Zechariah's song reaches its tender climax with this image: the Dayspring from on high has visited us. "Dayspring" is the dawn, the first light breaking over the horizon after the longest night. And the reason for this dawn is named with great compassion: "to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." The coming of Christ is a sunrise, and it breaks specifically over those sitting in darkness, not the comfortable and self-sufficient, but those in the shadow of death, those who have lost their way.

Notice the posture: those who "sit in darkness." It is the posture of people who have stopped trying to find their own way out, who have sat down in the dark, exhausted, hopeless, resigned. To these, the Dayspring comes. Christ's light dawns not on those who have climbed out of the dark by their own effort, but on those still sitting in it, unable to help themselves. And it comes "through the tender mercy of our God", not because the darkened deserve the dawn, but because God is merciful. If you are sitting in darkness this season, the dawn is rising precisely for you.

Let the Dayspring rise on you today. Wherever you sit in darkness or the shadow of death, the tender mercy of God sends light to find you there, and to guide your feet into peace.