When I notice rays of sunlight streaming through a cloud, I can hardly look away. They make me think of the Rapture, wondering if someday we’ll pass through an opening in the clouds just like that. Or Jesus’ return, which He said would be among the clouds.

Apparently, I am not the only one whose thoughts are turned to heaven by such a sight. Some have called this phenomenon “fingers of God” or “God rays.”

I learned recently that these shafts of sunlight have a scientific name: Crepuscular rays.

I was interested to read that the sunbeams are actually parallel. They look like they fan out to us in the same way that railroad tracks look like they are close together right in front of us but wider the farther they extend, even though they are actually parallel.

But what struck me even more was the fact that the rays are visible due to the light’s reaction with particles in the air, a process called scattering.

And do you know what one of the main particles in the atmosphere is?

Dust.

Dust is one of my least favorite substances on earth. No matter how many times I wipe dust off surfaces, more accumulates in just a day or two.

Yet glorious sunlight can interact with everyday dust to show forth light that turns our thoughts to God.

You know, the Bible says we’re made of dust. We’ll return to dust when we die (Genesis 3:19). God’s fatherly discipline of us is tempered by the fact that “he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:13-14).

Sometimes our frames are so dusty, it’s hard to imagine anything glorious coming from them or through them.

But “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

God shines the light of Christ in us that we might know Him. Then His light shines through us, dusty as we are, and scatters His light that others might see and turn to Him.

Jesus told us to “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

When people look up to rays of light in the sky, they don’t notice the dust. They just see the light reflecting off the dust.

May God scatter His light across the everyday “dust” of life–in our homes, cars, stores, churches, neighborhoods. May others see Him reflected through us and be turned to His light.

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