The Lord’s blessing
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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The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you (Numbers 6:25).
Read Numbers 6:24–26
Rising out of the desert and towering over an Indian village is a high mountain. Only the very strong can climb it, so all the boys of the village were eager to try. One day, the chief said, ‘Now, boys, today you may try to climb the mountain. Each of you must go as far as you can. When you are too tired to go on, come back. But I want each of you to bring me a twig from the place where you turned back.’
Very soon, a boy came puffing back with a piece of cactus. The chief smiled. ‘My boy, you did not even reach the foot of the mountain. Cactus is a desert flower.’
Later, a second boy returned with a twig of sagebrush. ‘Well, at least you reached the foot of the mountain.’
The next boy came back with a cottonwood twig. ‘Good! You climbed as far as the springs.’
Another boy came back with some buckthorn. ‘You were really climbing. You got up to the first slide rock.’
An hour afterwards, one boy came back with a branch of pine. To him, the chief said, ‘Good! You made three-quarters of the climb.’
The sun was low in the sky when the last boy returned. His hands were empty, but his face was shining. He said, ‘Father, there were no trees where I was. I saw no twigs, but I saw a shining sea.’
Now the old chief’s face glowed too. ‘I knew it! When I looked at your face, I knew it. You have been to the top. You needed no twig to tell me. It is written in your eyes. You alone, my boy, have seen the glory and the peace of the mountain.’
(Story by Catherine Marshall)
The same thing happens to you and me when we have been with our Father in heaven, talked to him in prayer and felt his presence in our hearts. It shows on our faces. It shines in our eyes.
Keep climbing! We show God’s shining face when we know him – this is his blessing to us.
Thank you for blessing me with your peace and love. Thank you for shining your face upon me, and in turn, my face shines to others, showing your love. 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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