Do Not Fear the Dark

“God’s Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  Psalm 119:105

Picture a path ahead.  There are sharp rocks, thorns, mudholes, poison ivy, exposed tree roots, and many other obstacles to avoid.  And it’s dark, so dark that you can barely see your hand in front of your face.  Any of these obstacles could trip us and cause us to stumble and fall.  Then imagine walking that same path, but with a big flashlight shining brightly on our feet and several yards ahead on the path.   It becomes much easier to step in the safe places and avoid the dangers.  No longer do we need to fear stumbling in the dark on our walk.

God’s Word is our spiritual flashlight.  As we study the word and hide it in our hearts, we don’t need to fear the darkness of the devils’ design.  His goal is to kill, steal, and destroy, but Jesus came to give us life, a very abundant life (John 10:10).  God’s Word sustains that life.

The other night, it had been raining.  It was about 9 p.m.  I was sitting on the sofa watching television when all of a sudden I heard transformers in the distance making that loud booming sound when they malfunction.  And then everything went dark; I mean really dark.  And very quiet.  Really eerie.  I stumbled around to find a flashlight and some candles.  With nothing else to do, I decided to practice my guitar by candlelight.  I couldn’t see my sheet music, so I just played from memory.  I am not very good at playing the guitar, but I try.  After about an hour, I went to bed.  About 30 minutes later, the power came back on thanks to the city electrical workers.  It is always such a relief when the power is restored.  I can’t imagine what it was like in pioneer days.  Of course, since they didn’t have electricity, they didn’t miss it, but I sure do.  I said all this to make the point that being in a dark house is not pleasant, but not nearly as bad as being in the dark spiritually.  There is really no excuse for being spiritually blind when God has given us His Word to light our way so that we don’t have to stumble around trying to figure life out, wondering what it all means, and living without real purpose.

The highlight of my day is the time I spend in Bible study each morning.  All problems seem to vanish as I dig into God’s Word and spend time with Him.  When situations arise during the day, the scriptures that I have studied give me peace and help in troubling times.  To neglect the Word is to miss out on a wonderful treasure.  God will reveal Himself to anyone who diligently seeks Him in His Word.  Some people say that the Bible is not relevant any longer, but rather it is the world in its ungodly and sinful pursuits which refuses to relate to God’s Word.

This blog is posted for Sunday, April 26, 2020, the Lord’s Day.  Due to the pandemic, many of us who worship regularly will attend service on line.  It’s definitely not the same as being with a group of like-minded folks, singing praises unto the Lord, praying, and hearing the man of God standing and proclaiming “Thus says the Lord”, but I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to continue to worship even if alone together.  We all need to stop and focus on what is really important–our relationship with the Lord and with others.  We need to be spiritually refreshed quite often.  God’s Word is food for the soul.  We can’t just eat one meal every seven days.  We have to nourish our bodies everyday in order to stay healthy, and so we must nourish our souls on a daily basis to stay in tune with what God is desiring to teach us.