My Dear Friend,
There is a Gospel song that speaks of the Light that is “ever shining in my soul.” I pray that today’s devotional will encourage you to let that Light in!
Love in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Mark
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:1-2, NKJV
Several years ago, a dear friend of mine recorded a song entitled, “I Belong to You.” The song contained one of the most powerful encouragements I have ever heard in a song of worship. It exhorted, “Be still my soul, and don’t let go. For in the darkness, He’s still God.”
Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). But regarding the human condition, the Apostle John was very blunt: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
Have you noticed that people are installing more and more lights around their homes and businesses? Television advertisements for security lights seek to impress potential buyers with their “powerful LED lumens.” The idea is that bright lighting will deter would-be prowlers, vandals, and burglars. As more of these types of crimes are committed at night, the Apostle John is spot-on: Darkness is preferred when evil deeds are intended.
But in actuality, John was referring to a different type of darkness. The darkness to which he refers is that which stands in contravention to the light of Truth. When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,” it is a matter of faith to acknowledge Him as such and to accept His words as the solution to the world’s darkness – whether that darkness results in egregious crimes against fellow humans or simply to be mentally enslaved to the foolish notion that humans will eventually construct or discover the cure for their sinful human condition. (And for those who would take this opportunity to argue that Christianity, too, has failed at this, may I remind them that Jesus said – loosely paraphrased – “Not everyone who calls me “Lord” knows what my kingdom is about. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in Heaven have My light shining within them” (Matthew 7:21).
I have one of those terrific products from Brookstone called an eye pillow that blocks out all light when I want to sleep more deeply. To deny that the world is becoming increasingly shrouded in spiritual darkness is to deliberately choose to place the spiritual version of one of these pillows over our eyes. Look around, and you, too, will see what Jesus saw: “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36, NASB). Besides “distressed and dispirited” may we add, “confused and scared?”
But we have no reason to be scared! If we have truly accepted Jesus and have implicitly trusted in His words, we have the Light of the world to go before us, no matter how dark the path. And as Matthew Henry, the great giant of faith, once proclaimed, “One sun enlightens the whole world. So does one Christ, and there need be no more. What a dark dungeon would the world be without the sun! So would it be without Jesus, by whom light came into the world.”
So back to Genesis 1:1-2: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Over the darkness, God’s Spirit hovered. And as my friend’s song so powerfully proclaims, “in the darkness, He’s still God.” God’s Spirit is still hovering over the earth today, saying to each one of us, “Let there be light.” Now then, it is up to you as to whether you will allow the “true Light that gives light to everyone” (John 1:9) beam brightly into the eyes of your soul or choose to keep wearing that comfortable little “eye pillow” to block the Light of Life, thus preventing the “photosynthesis” necessary to keep your soul from withering and dying.
So, please encourage yourself daily by saying, “Be still my soul, and don’t let go. For in the darkness, He’s still God.”