Finding Light in the Darkness

Thickening clouds interrupted the reception of our satellite receiver and, thereby, my much anticipated view of the Little League World Series on ESPN Thursday night. About fifteen minutes later, the lights went out at our house. Storms came roaring through around 8:00 pm. When the power blinked on and off several times, we scurried for candles in case the outages were prolonged.

Thankfully, we had power restored within a few minutes, so I was able to sit down to work and play at my desk in my study – the satellite signal was still intermittent. The ceiling fan stirred a gentle breeze from above, and the central air conditioner supplied cool air from the vent at my feet. Thank you, Mr. Edison. After our candle expedition, which turned up only four scented candles, the house was now not only well lit but also pleasantly aromatic. Ah, the subtle pleasures of life in 21^st-century America.

I learned Friday morning that significant portions of the area, including Milford and parts of South Lyon, were still without power. As I drove around town to make some mid-morning pastoral calls, I pondered life in the generations before we became so dependent upon the conveniences technology affords us – the niceties we have made necessities. I wondered how I would fare in a culture without electric lights, refrigerators, or computers. Then a rather quirky thought occurred to me: “Life would be a lot darker without lights.”

As you know my mind is prone to do, I began to dart down a dozen or so wild rabbit trails that began to present themselves in rapid order to my imagination. “Life would be a lot darker.” I remembered my study this week of John 6:16-20 and my meditation upon John’s references to darkness and contrasts with light in his Gospel. As I mulled over those notes in my mind, I imagined the terror that must have seized those hardy young men struggling in the dark against wind and waves. Memories of my children’s cries in the dark when they were younger morphed into recollections of my own fear of the dark both as a boy and, truthfully, even at times as an adult. The reality struck me that we are rarely ever as easily frightened in the light of day as we are when the lights go out. Just then, the radio station delivered a timely observation from Adrian Rogers: “Faith is like film. It develops in the dark.”

What do we do when from the threat of stormy seas we cannot see the lights of a safe harbor? What nightmares invade our minds and enslave our hearts when life leaves us in the dark? The great enemy of light is darkness. The great threat to illumination and insight is dimness and blindness. The terrible foe of faithfulness and fruitfulness is fear.

When lines of populated areas from Michigan to New York were blacked out for several days a couple of summers ago, the steady hum of generators became a common sound around our neighborhood. When the power went out, my neighbors sought out and plugged into an alternate source. The power systems this world and our own flesh afford us will most assuredly leave us in the dark – lonely, frightened, unsteady, and unsure. When the power fades in our lives and the shadows begin to overtake us like kudzu in an Alabama field, we need to plug in to an inexhaustible supply.

From our Wednesday night adult Bible study, here are four keys to peace in the midst of storms. Read Luke 24:36-49 and identify these four steps to find light in the darkness:

1. Understand the Presence of Jesus in Your Life (vv 36-43; Acts 1:1-4).
2. Understand the Plan in God’s Word (vv 44-47).
3. Understand the Purpose of God for Your Life (vv 47-48).
4. Understand the Power of the Holy Spirit in Your Life (v 49).

Let’s discover some more about how to live as children of light in the domain of darkness this morning. Find John 6:16-20. We can find hope from Jesus’ stroll through the storm to His distraught disciples.

To the ends of the earth until the end of time!

Pastor Rob