In the Light

Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes

When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to visit the Cumberland Gap on the borders of Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. While up there, my family visited a cave there called Gap Cave. After walking in and following a path for a short while, it became very dark, with the only light coming from the National Park Ranger’s lamp. When we reached a large cavern, our guide stopped us and gathered everyone together. He then turned off the lamp, plunging us all into absolute, pitch-black darkness.

            After a few seconds, and before he turned his lamp on again, he said, “Now, imagine trying to walk out of this cave without any light. Unless you have memorized every rock, noise and tunnel, it would be impossible to find your way out. Tripping and falling into pits or lakes would be very easy simply because you cannot see what is in front of you.”

There is a consistent theme throughout the Word of God regarding the Light and the Dark. Some are literal (i.e. Genesis 1), but mostly it describes light as a guiding tool essential to our spiritual walk. It works as a revelatory tool (for example Eph 5:11, John 3:19-20, and Psalms 119:130 are a few examples) as light literally reveals that which is hidden. This is important as we humans like to keep our sins under wraps.

The most critical theme is defining what light is, and that we are called to walk in the light: 1 John 1:5-7 says, “5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

One of my favorite music groups, DC Talk, released a song I think is fitting for this article: it is called “In The Light”. The following is an abbreviated excerpt:

I keep trying to find a life

On my own apart from you

I am the king of excuses

I’ve got one for every selfish thing I do

Tell me what’s going on inside of me

I despise my own behavior

This only serves to confirm my suspicions

That I’m still a man in need of a Savior

This disease of self runs through my blood (through my blood)

It’s a cancer fatal to my soul

Every attempt on my behalf has failed

To bring this sickness under control

[chorus]

I wanna be in the Light

As You are in the Light

I wanna shine like the stars

In the Heavens

Oh, Lord be my light

And be my Salvation

‘Cause all I want is to be in the Light

All I want is to be in the Light

When we go without God, we walk in darkness. Just like the cave I mentioned earlier, we will stumble over every obstacle because we are going through life with blind eyes. To be rid of this predicament, the only solution is to “…cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:12b). As Psalms 119:105 says, “[Gods] word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”.

As you go through life, what is guiding you? Are you relying on your own eyes? If you are, seek the light for your feet and your path that only the Creator can provide.

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