Lesson 254: "Traveling Without Light"
Imagine that you are driving down the city street with six lanes of traffic; lots of traffic!Are you there?Now imagine that all the lights have gone out; traffic signals, stop lights, car headlights and even the reflectors that are on vehicles.Where would you be and what would you do?Maybe you are one of those talented people who can “drive blind” but what would you do with the other drivers?Defensive driving would likely be of little use in this situation.I don’t think that many of us have the sequence of the light changes memorized so that we would automatically know when and where to stop.And I know for sure that the majority of people are not courteous enough to “yield” to oncoming traffic. If a total traffic black out should happen there would be chaos, squealing of tires, honking of horns, yelling, screaming and a great many fender benders, not to mention life threatening accidents.It is virtually impossible to drive in traffic without the aid and guidance of light. Why, then would anyone for one moment think that we could travel through life with all of its pitfalls and life threatening accidents without the aid and guidance of God’s Holy Light.
God called for light to come into the world and there was light and He saw that the light was good (Gen. 1:3-4).This should have been enough for man kind to live by, especially since God also gave them a little darkness (for rest) and all the food they needed to eat but Adam and Eve went after more and started the “journey of darkness” for all who would live on this earth.God brought light in various ways such as the Burning Bush to get Moses’ attention (Ex. 3).He continued to send His guiding light to the Israelites after they were led out of Egypt and were traveling around in the wilderness. “By night in a pillar of fire to give them light” (Ex. 13:21-22) God led His people and looked down from the pillar of fire and threw the pursuing Egyptian army into confusion (Ex. 14:24-25).However, just as some of us today will run a red light or refuse to yield to on coming traffic, the people continued to grumble and complain about “being forced to follow God’s light”.
When Eliphaz, Job’s “friend” speaks to him in all his wisdom (?) and finally gave one good word and that was that when Job (we) pray to God, He hears us and when we fulfill our vows to Him the light will shine on our ways (Job 22:27-28) and later Job writes that “by His light he walked through darkness” (Job 29:3)!David, the psalmist wrote often of the Lord being his light and his salvation (Ps. 27:1), and His Word being a lamp unto his feet and a light for his path (Ps. 119:105).“Light is sweet and it pleases the eyes to see the sun” (Ecc. 11:7); this is what Isaiah wanted the people to understand when he called on them to “walk in the light of the Lord” (Isa. 2:5).He prophesied that when the Day of the Lord came, the sun would no more be our light by day, nor the moon our brightness at night; for the Lord will be our everlasting Light and glory (Isa. 60:20).
God looked down and saw that His people were stumbling around in the spiritual darkness and sent His Son to light our world and lead us into salvation and eternal life (John 3:16).Jesus Himself told us that He was the Light of the world and whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness but have the light of life (John 8:12).Jesus is not only the Light but He is also the Gate and He is the Voice (John 9:7, 27) so even if the physical light in our life goes out and our spiritual light grows dim, we can hear His guiding voice. Is there anything closer to death than a smoldering wick on a candle?Once a flame, now failing; still warm but no fire; not yet cold but far from hot!“A smoldering wick He will not snuff out till He leads justice to victory” (Matt. 12:20).The Canaanite woman asked Jesus to have mercy on her because her daughter’s physical and mental light was flickering.Because of this woman’s faith that Jesus indeed was the Light and the Savior, He granted the woman’s request and her daughter was brought back into the Light (Matt. 15:22-28).Jesus brought His light and the glory of God into the tomb of Lazarus who had been dead for four days (John 11:1-44).
This Light that came to us has been passed on to each and every Christian.“You are the light of the world; a city on a hill cannot be hidden.Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.In the same way let your light shine before man, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven” (Matt. 5:14-16). So this is a reminder that however foolish it would be to travel physical roads without lights, that is how foolish it is to travel spiritually without the Light of Salvation shining around you so that others can follow without bumping into hardships, snares of the devil, detours, and roads to destruction.