Light in Crisis Seeing Things Differently A study of John 12, verses 27 through 40 on the Daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh.

This is where we impart to you, share with you audibly the voice of God through the reading of the New Testament.

We do that by reading the New Testament.

We take the selective verse for this very day we use the Revised Common Lectionary.

We're in Year C and we're in the Lenten season and we give you a reading of the Gospel that is understandable because we take just the New Testament reading only.

We're reading from the message version of the Bible, relatable by giving you a couple of points to ponder, applicable by giving you an action step.

We have a prayer.

We do all of that in under 10 minutes.

Everything is brought to you by our website, voiceofgoddaily.com the home of the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study method.

Let's get into our reading for the day.

It's from the gospel of John 12, verses 27 through 40.

Reading for the message right now I am shaken.

What am I going to say?

Father, get me out of this.

No, this is why I came in the first place.

I'll say, father, put your glory on display.

A voice came out of the sky.

I have glorified it and I'll glorify it again.

And the listening crowd said, thunder.

Others said an angel spoke to him.

Jesus said, the voice didn't come for me, but for you.

At this moment the world is in crisis.

Now Satan, the ruler of this world, will be thrown out.

And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me.

He put it this way to show how he was going to be put to death.

And voices from the crowd answered.

We heard from God's law that the Messiah lasts forever.

How can it be necessary, as you put it, that the Son of Man be lifted up?

Who is this Son of Man?

Jesus said, for a brief time still the light is among you.

Walk by the light.

So you have, so you have.

So darkness doesn't destroy you.

If you walk in darkness, you don't know where you're going.

As you have the light, believe in the light.

Then the light will be within you and shining through your lives.

You'll be children of light.

Their eyes are blinded.

Jesus said all of this and then he went into hiding.

All these God signs he had given them and they still didn't get it, still wouldn't trust him.

This proved that the prophet Isaiah was right.

God who believed what was preached, who recognized God's arm outstretched and ready to act.

First they wouldn't believe, then they couldn't again, just as Isaiah had said, their eyes are blinded, their hearts are hardened, so they wouldn't see with their eyes, yet perceive with their hearts and turn to me, God, so I could heal them.

Wow, profound passage of scripture.

And let's get into it here in our points to ponder.

This is really about the light in a time of crisis, or how we can see things differently.

And this is a great reflection to explore Jesus's profound teachings about light and crisis and transformation.

So let me offer you a few points to ponder.

The first one has to do about the crisis of transformation.

When Jesus says the world is in crisis, he's not speaking of doom, but of breakthrough.

The Greek word for crisis means a moment of decision or a turning point.

And that really speaks in our contemporary context, I believe, where we have multiple crises going on, don't we?

We have the ecological crisis, we have social.

Certainly we have political crisis going on.

Wars might actually these things be birth pangs of necessary transformation?

What if our current crises are invitations to radically change rather than signs of hopeless despair or collapse?

A second thing is alternative power structures.

Jesus speaks of lifted up, which is a powerful which has a powerful double meaning, referencing both crucifixion and exaltation.

This suggests that true power often looks like weakness to an empire.

But in our context, this might mean recognizing power in marginalized communities, grassroots movements, and what is apparently powerless actions for justice, where they could really be powerful opportunities will receive transformative power in unexpected places.

One more point to ponder.

It's about having a going beyond a binary vision.

The text discussion here of sight and blindness isn't about physical vision, but about ways that we see reality.

The crowd's inability to quote get it wasn't about an intellectual understanding, but about their attachment to existing power structures and traditional interpretations.

And I would just invite you to see how this challenges us to examine our own blind spots, particularly where privilege or tradition or comfort might be preventing us from seeing necessary truth.

Let's talk about an action step this week.

Practice alternate seeing, that is, choose a situation that you've labeled as hopeless or negative or just in a place of despair.

Perhaps it's some social justice issue or political matter, or some issue about war or some community problem, and intentionally look for signs of transformative power even within that crisis.

Identify a grassroots movement or a marginalized voice which is speaking to this issue and working on it and find a way to understand more or to support that vision.

Remember, light often comes from unexpected places, so this is one way you can take action.

We're going to pray here.

Just a moment.

One action I would really love for you to take is to go over to voiceofgoddaily.com and pick up our free resource.

It's a daily Bible study guide called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Guide and you can use it in coordination with the Daily Bible Refresh to have your own time of Bible study.

And it really makes your Bible study just straightforward and is abc123.

It's completely free.

Go over to voiceofgoddaily.com and pick it up.

Our closing prayer for the day.

Oh God, you are a God of divine light.

And in moments when everything else seems to be falling apart, help us recognize the possibility of a breakthrough when we're tempted to look away from crisis, give us courage to see differently.

Where we become attached to old ways of seeing.

Soften our hardened hearts in our moments of being shaken.

Remind us that transformation often feels like crisis.

And help us to recognize your light in these moments, in these unexpected places and faces in moments we might have overlooked.

And voices we may have been trained to ignore.

Make us children of light, not by blinding us in darkness, but by teaching us to see hope in the midst of struggle, power in apparent weakness and possibility in times of crisis.

Amen.

Well, thank you for being with me as we continue this process of getting the audible word of God into 2 million ears as a million people by the end of 2028.

You can help us to do that by inviting your friend, your neighbor, your person in your life to join us at Voice of God daily, every day.

That is the daily Bible refresh@voiceofgoddaily.com so please join us there.

Until then, My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

Remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new.

Every morning, Sa.