"Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun." (Ecclesiastes 11:7)
Without the sweet sunlight there would be nothing lovely and pleasant in the earth for our eyes to behold; for the light is not only beautiful itself, but it makes beautiful everything that it shines upon. You will remember that Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world." (John 8:12)
The way that He lights this world is through the sun. We cannot look upon the glory of the face of God and live, but in the glorious sun, He sheds upon the earth just as much of the light of His countenance as we can bear. Is it not indeed "sweet" to know that we are walking in the light of His face for, "in His presence is fullness of joy." (Psalm 16:11)
All the beauty and color of the earth is the reflection of the rays of the sun, which is the light shining from the face of God; and so, "The beauty of all created things is but a gleam from the shining of His glory."--Ellen G. White, Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, p. 96.
But what would all this glory and beauty be to us if God had not given us "eyes to behold" it, and by His Spirit of life within us given us the power to see? He has made our bodies for His own temple, and our eyes are one way by which His Spirit enters into us. We see Him reflected as in a mirror in all the things that He has made, so that we may learn to know and love and worship Him, and let His Holy Spirit rule our hearts and lives.
But Satan, who wants to put himself in the place of God, is all the time trying to get into our bodies, and make them his temple, instead of the holy temple of God, which He made them to be. So all the ways that God has made for His Spirit to come into our hearts, Satan is trying to use to get himself in instead.
Think how it was that Satan first got into the heart of man. It was through the eyes; for Eve kept looking at the fruit that God had told her not to touch, for if she did she would die. She kept on looking until she "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise." (Genesis 3:6)
This was because Satan, the father of lies, was getting into her eyes, and she did not let the Spirit of God keep him out. When the lying spirit of Satan got into her eyes, it made her see all things wrong; and through this entrance, Satan got right into her heart and made her do the very thing that God had told her not to do.
Oh, will you not give your eyes to God, that the Spirit of Truth may use them, to teach you only what is pure and true and good? Ask Jesus to open your eyes, so that you may "clearly see" Him in all His works, and to keep and guard them by His Holy Spirit, that no evil thing may find an entrance there.
Let the glory of God that shines upon you in the sunlight stream through your eyes right into your hearts, and make you "all-glorious within." (Psalm 45:13)
And think, if the light, which is but a faint reflection of His glory, is so "sweet" and "pleasant" for our "eyes to behold," what must be the glory and beauty of the face of Him whose smile we see in the glad sunshine.--Present Truth, August 4, 1898--A children's companion to: The Everlasting Gospel, Chapter 7, "The Light".