S217P1 – A life of light: God is the source

Psa. 36:7-9

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!  Therefore, the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.  They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.  For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

I have had the privilege of visiting one of the darkest places on Earth.  One evening, I returned to my hut and lay down to sleep without remembering that this resort had certain hours during which electricity was not available.  After lying down, I closed my eyes and then remembered that I had not set my alarm.  When I opened my eyes to find the alarm clock, I was confused.  I could see absolutely nothing.  I had to touch my eyes to make sure that they were open because I never before had been in such darkness.  Coincidentally, in the moments I had closed my eyes and then reopened them, the lights had gone out in the entire facility.  In that room, without the advantage of the stars or the moonlight, it was as if I were blind.

When we do not have Christ, it is as if the lights have been turned off.  We think we see life going on around us, but we really are in darkness.  I would not even say that we are living in darkness because we really are the walking dead without Jesus.  Once we come to a saving knowledge of Christ, that is when the eyes are opened, which really is about illumination.  The light of God is what shows us the real condition of the world.  Without it, we are blind to the spiritual reality of this place.  The knowledge we get when God turns on the lights is a knowledge that we can obtain no other way.  No one else and nothing else can illuminate for us the truth of this existence.  It is the absence of this light of God’s that keeps people blind to our spiritual reality.

For us, everything starts with God.  If we want to have any hope of seeing or knowing anything, we must be illuminated by his light.  Without it, we walk around in a darkness so deceptive that we are fooled into thinking we actually can see.  Without the light of God, we cannot even see how dark we are inside ourselves.  This world is not what it seems, and while it is beyond unfortunate that we must live here for a time, there is hope that we can come to know all through God.  He opens the eyes of the blind by shining his light on them so that they can see clearly.  Father, thank You for the light of life that we have through your Son, and help us to lead others to your illumination.