Let there be light
The devotions for the coming week are taken from Lutheran Tract Mission’s 2025 Advent devotional, ‘Shine the Light’. Written by Anne Hansen, Lutheran Tract Mission’s Tract Development Officer, the devotions focus on the significance of light in God’s story and plan for the world, from the beginning of Genesis 1, where God created light and the lights in the sky, to the last verse of Revelation, where God is the light reigning forever. The ‘Shine the Light’ Advent devotional is available at www.ltm.org.au/flipbk/advent-2025 and can be downloaded, printed or used as a digital flipbook.
by Anne Hansen
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God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness (Genesis 1:4).
Read Genesis 1:1–5
As I was watching TV with my family one evening after dinner, everything suddenly went dark – the power went off. What is the first thing we all went to look for? Torches, candles and matches to bring light to the darkness. I don’t mind the darkness when I am sleeping, but when I am awake, I don’t like the dark. There is something frightening about not being able to see what is around.
The first thing that God created on the first day was light. Everything was dark, and it was formless, but God wanted more … so light was created, and God said that the light was good.
Light is necessary for making all of God’s creative works visible. It makes life possible. Even creatures that live in the nighttime adapt to ‘see’ in the dark. Both day and night belong to the Lord. But it is the light that brings life.
I found a quote about light from National Geographic:
Light reveals the world to us. Body and soul crave it. Light sets our biological clocks. It triggers in our brains the sensations of colour. Light feeds us, supplying the energy for plants to grow. It inspires us with special effects like rainbows and sunsets. Light gives us life-changing tools, from incandescent bulbs to lasers and fibre optics. Scientists don’t fully understand what light is or what it can do. They just know it will illuminate our future.
But within the darkness before light, we read that already God’s Spirit was ‘hovering’, ready for action as soon as God spoke the words. When you feel that you are in the dark, physically or figuratively, know that God’s Spirit is there, hovering to care for you and lead you into the light.
Before light was created, everything was a void: dark and deep. In Revelation 21:1,25, God tells us that in the End Times, there will be no more darkness and no more deepness – God will illuminate everything.
This Advent season, remember that God is there, bringing his light and order into your life. God is at work in your life … and sometimes you get to see it!
My Heavenly Father, all you had to do was speak the words to bring life and light into the world. Light my life this Advent season and help me see you at work in and through me. Use me to bring light to others. Amen.
Anne Hansen has worked as the Lutheran Tract Mission Development Officer for 19 years. She lives in Noosa, Queensland, with her husband, Mark (a pastor), and has three grown children – Jonah, Christian and Emma – and is a new proud mother-in-law to Brooke. Anne enjoys attending Mainly Music, walking, reading, gardening and playing pickleball.
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