How many of you old school listeners of the Group, Parliament, remember their song “Flash Light”? The opening lyrics goes like this: Now, I lay me down to sleep, Ooh, I just can’t find a Beat, Flash Light (Oh, I will never Dance!) I use to play this song right before conducting my faith experiment while in college. It wasn’t that I had hidden my faith before, but I had come to school not thinking it would ever be a need for me to tell anyone. You see I was afraid of the Dark. Strange that it was this song that motivate me, “I decided to just kind of feel it out, like, how would it be if I just brought it up in random conversations, with people I did not know. You see the song Flash Light was strange and Random.
In the Gospel of John, we are called to be a light and proclaim the love of Jesus Christ to all those we meet. It is our responsibility as we join Jesus on his mission. But how are we to do that when the world may feel like a brood of vipers? How can we be a witness in a politically-correct world that seeks to push us out of the public square and confine us to the pw? How do you share your light of Faith with others?Jesus is called “the true light, which gives light to everyone” (John 1:9).
The Lord is my light and the one who saves me. I fear no one. The Lord protects my life. I am afraid of no one Psalm 27:1
Who’s afraid of the dark? I’ll bet that all of you at a time in your life you were afraid of the dark. At least sometimes. There are times now when we get a little afraid of the dark. Now most adults do not want to show they are scared but there are times in an uncomfortable unfamiliar place we get concerned or are scared of the dark at times. Especially when it’s really dark outside without the moon or stars or any kind of light, lots of people even big people like myself may feel alarmed.
Once as a kid, my mom and I laid down on the kitchen floor. We close our eyes and pretended that it was really dark. We imagined it was late at night and we’re getting ready to go to sleep. You see as a kid I was really afraid of the dark. She even kissed me and said good night, and said our prayers; my mother was trying to help me deal with the darkness of my life. But I still needed the light on. In my mind I was still just lying there in the bedroom in the dark. I even heard a creak outside of the kitchen window. What could it be? Where’s the flash light I yelled, Whew! This flash light saved the day-I mean night. In today’s world we would have a night light!
Those little light help us to see there’s nothing to be afraid of. The night light helps us sleep.
Lately, I have been thinking about our soul. In the sense of when we seriously are converted to the service of God. We in general, spiritually are nursed and caressed, as an infant by its loving mother, nourishes us with her own sweet milk, feeds it with tender and delicate food, carries it in her arms, and fondles it. As the child grows up the mother withholds her caresses and anoints them with the juice of bitter aloes; she carries the infant in her arms no longer, but makes it walk on the ground, so that losing the habits of an infant, it may apply itself to greater and more substantial pursuits.
The grace of God, like a loving mother, as soon as the soul is regenerated in the new fire and fervor of His service, treats it in the same way. We all suffer. Yet few of us suffer in the way of Job or Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Most of us do not experience a mystical dark night, but we experience the everyday, run-of-the mill dark moment. This dark moment could be the feeling of loneliness, depression, or being unappreciated; it could be suffering from financial difficulty, discomfort at work, divorce, or simply not knowing how to parent a rebellious child; it could be that awful experience of terminal illness, of a broken marriage, or even the death of a child.
About two years ago, I learned about a good Christian friend whose adult son had committed suicide. I know that for a long time they experience many natural dark nights during that time, and I imagine they will continue to have many, many more. The question is how do you respond to His presence, or his perceived absence, in your daily life.
Do you allow the dark moments to smother your faith, or do you turn to God in prayer, begging for patience, for strength, and for a renewed faith? Is your faith so shallow as to love God only when you get something in return, or do you love Him despite the darkness that comes and goes? These are the questions the saints had to face during their dark nights, and these are the questions that you must ask yourself in your dark moments.
“The night is almost gone, and the day is near Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light”. Romans 13:12
Like a mother who takes small steps away from her child learning to walk, god also steps away, all the while calling you towards Him. He has not turned his back on you. Rather, He wants you to love Him and walk towards him without constant dependence on your own standards of pleasure, peace, and happiness. Only then, when you are employing, can He fill you with His very own pleasure, peace, and happiness. And then you will wonder why you ever questioned Him, why you ever desire anything other than Him, and why you ever hesitated to endure the purgation required to become one with Him.
The Bible tells us God is a night light. Sometimes the light is bright, like when the shepherds were in the fields outside of Bethlehem watching their flocks. Other times God’s light is soft. It’s like a night light. It gives us just enough light to see we don’t have to be afraid.
God promises to be with us at all times. God is with us during the day and in the night. So, we don’t need to be afraid of the dark. Because if God is our night light, what do we have to fear?
For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), Ephesians 5:9
God Bless You and This Ministry!
