Light Over Dark

I seem to be keeping with a theme. Really wasn’t intentional to begin with but God does things like this to drive home a point. I can’t count the number of times that a Sunday school lesson, a children’s sermon, and a Sunday morning message from the pastor all melded together like a fine stew. It allows us to simmer and meditate on the different points.

Light and dark are polar opposites. Both really can’t exist simultaneously in one location without great effort to extinguish one or the other. When our boys reached driving age, my husband and I had a curfew for them. Our stance was that nothing good happens after dark. And, I might add that the few, little things that did ruffle our feathers, as parents, usually happened after dark.

Whether in the darkness of a room with blacked-out windows or the darkness of a sinful heart, the places that light is not allowed to shine are the very places that fail to flourish. Seeds without light wither. Ground with no warmth from light will not be fertile except for those few things, like mushrooms, that love the dark and damp. Skin that’s never exposed to light will be pale and lack luster. Flowers with no light fail to bloom. A life without the sun would eventually lead to death. Evil is almost always committed in the dark. Acts of hatred, maliciousness, and violence usually happens behind a dark mask and at the darkest hour.

That is why one of God’s first acts was to separate the light from the dark. (Genesis 1) He knew we needed the light for our sustenance and continuation as humans. That’s also why His Son took on darkness (our sin) in order for us to see the light, be the light. God created both as we need both. It’s part of the cycle of life, day and night, that He put in place. The death of Jesus was the darkest hour in the middle of the day and yet without that very act of sacrifice, we too, would face eternal death and darkness. Praise God that we can see the light. John 8:12 says, “I AM the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”.

I have a piece of artwork hanging over my fireplace. In the picture is a camping scene set in a little valley with the sun setting or rising over the mountain. Even though it is darkest in the valley, all you have to do is look up to see the light. How fitting that we "look up" to heaven, when we need to see "The Light".