Have you ever experienced true darkness? Like, real absolute darkness?
I remember the first and probably the only time I’ve experienced true absolute darkness. We took the youth group caving several years ago. When you enter the cave, you get suited up with headlamps and other
gear. You climb into this little hole in the earth and follow the guide through this maze of rock. After quite a while of moving through this cave, going through crevices, climbing over stuff, climbing under other things, literally it’s a maze. The guide could have left us at that point and we would have been lost forever.
After a bit of exploring, we get to this little opening that we had to sit on our bottoms to fit in but it was big enough for about 30 people to sit comfortably, it was just low. At that point, the guide instructed all of us to turn our headlamps out. We did. It was
absolute true darkness. You could not see your hand in front of your face, no matter how close it had gotten. There was not an ounce of light in that cave and you could feel it. He proceeded to tell us a nice little story about bugs in the cave and how they develop other
senses or something. I don’t know, I just wanted the stupid lights back on.
I have a lot of rational fears but honestly, the dark has never been one of them. That day, I realized how dangerous the dark truly was. No, not that something will get you in the dark but how destructive being in the dark could be. The guide told us that without our lights, no one would ever be able to find their way back out of the cave. If all our lights died right then, we would be stuck and die in there. He
was a real cheerful guy as you can tell. (He was actually really cool but that part freaked me out.)
Without the light, we would be stuck stumbling through the dark looking searching for any sign of hope. How often do we feel this way in our own lives? When life gets difficult when we face difficulties we never expected when we hate ourselves and everyone around us and it seems all hope is lost. We just move through life, no direction, no hope, no light. We are lost and going through the motions. It’s like we can’t see one step in front of us, we are disoriented — stumbling
around and tripping on everything! How in the world are we supposed to live like this?
Do you feel like you are stumbling your way through life in the dark? Like you’re not really living, just going through the motions and hoping no one else notices? I’ve been there. I’ve spent time in
absolute numbness to everything around me, much because I didn’t have any desire to do better. I was walking in darkness with no willingness to escape. It wasn’t until I experienced the Light that my walk then had purpose and drive.
John 8:12 –
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
If you feel like you’re in darkness in life, you don’t know what way to go, who to turn to, how to handle your current battles, how to handle your home life, how to endure this next year. Good news, Jesus shines bright in the darkness. He is the light of the world. Whoever
follows Him will never walk in darkness.
There was a man in scripture who also walked in darkness. His name was Saul, we’d later know him as the Apostle Paul. Paul walked in darkness, for a long time he was blinded by religion. He spent his days hunting down the followers of Jesus and arresting them, many to be killed.
Then one day Jesus appeared to him and blinded him physically. I find it interesting that God blinded him physically so that he could see spiritually.
There are things in our lives that can and will keep us spiritually blinded to God’s will and plan. Many times, these things hold great value in our lives. We consider them to be very important to us and we may even consider them to be “good” things, yet they can blind us to God’s will. Paul thought he was doing good, he thought he was cleansing the earth of those who disgrace God. In reality, he was so consumed with what he thought to be “good” that he was going against
the will of God and attacking God Himself.
Jesus said to Paul in Acts 9:4 “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
We must lift our eyes off of what we believe to be “good” and look at what God calls good. There is a new movement within “Christianity” that believes as long as you’re happy then you’re living right. It’s a belief system that as long as I believe in Jesus, I can do whatever I want and because God loves me I’ll be saved.
God does absolutely loves you, but even the demons believed in Jesus. Scripture says Jesus must be our Lord, meaning our master. We must submit our life to Him and follow Him.
Imagine with me for a moment. Paul is blinded, Jesus speaks to him and leads him to a home. While in that home, God speaks to a man named Ananias, God tells Ananias to go and heal Paul. He is reluctant but he
does.
Ananias shows up heals Paul, Paul accepts belief in Jesus, they all pray together. Then Paul cuts Ananias’ head off.
Would we say Paul is saved or no?
Wasn’t it enough that he believed?
Absolutely not, because he didn’t submit to Jesus.
Yet, there are so many Christians out there today that “believe” in Jesus but Jesus is far from their Lord. They’ve accepted Christ but haven’t changed a thing about their life. Our belief in Jesus must
change us, that belief may mean we have to give up some bad habits, that we must surrender some relationships, that we change our lifestyle, that we change our opinions on things. It will mean that we will have to say no to ourselves, to our wants, to our desires, to our temptations.
Because, when we follow the light, we no longer walk in the darkness. I truly believe the reason why we’re so often in pain, depression, and hopelessness is that we were created to cancel darkness — not coexist
with it.
Escape the dark and follow the Light. Surrender your life to Jesus, make Him Lord of all, and follow Him.
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Hey Jeff,
You are soooooo right on target. God has blessed you and anointed you. May you always keep your zeal for the LORD JESUS. Thanks for your inspiring words!