Arise and Shine!

“Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” Isaiah 60:1-3

My name is Myoung. And my name comes from the Bible verse above. When I was born, it took my dad a full month in making my name. As all parents do my dad also wanted to give me a special name. Now back in those days in Korea it was illegal for the doctor to tell the parents what the baby’s gender was prior to giving birth. (There were ethical issues back then due to the fact that Asians only wanted sons. It’s different now.)

So dad (and mom) had to wait until I was born to find out whether I was a boy or a girl so that he can find a suitable name for me. (I kind of wonder why he waited because he could have thought of names for both a boy and a girl before I was born and name me after whatever I was.)

Anyways, so I was born as a boy. Dad started contemplating on what his son’s name would be. It was not easy for him to decide and it took him a full month. One day he was reading the Bible and he randomly turned to Isaiah chapter 60. As soon as he saw it he knew my name would be Myoung. Korean names are mostly named after Chinese characters. And Myoung is a combination of two characters which mean the sun and the moon. When put together it means ‘brightness’ or ‘to become bright.’

The context of Isaiah 60 is the restoration of the city of God for all people. I believe it was my dad’s wish that I would take part in ministry and be a part of God restoring His kingdom. God has a special plan to restore His kingdom once again. It is a promise that is mentioned in the Bible numerous times. As Daniel has said, “The dream (or the promise) is certain.” Let’s remind us of the promise we find in Isaiah 60 and let us ‘arise and shine!’