Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but have been too lazy to turn on the light? Perhaps you did not want to become wide awake, or you didn’t want to blind your eyes with a bright light. Therefore, you stumbled down the hall in almost complete darkness. Unfortunately, there were inevitably times where you bumped into a wall, banged your knee into the nightstand, or tripped on your child’s toy lying in your path. This resulted in harm to your toe, foot, hand, or even your head. Trying to find your way in the dark can steer you in wrong directions. And the truth is all you needed to do to avoid bodily harm was to click on the light.
Today, we live in a highly advanced technological society that has never been more convenient. Yet despite all of these modern wonders, our culture seems to be feeling more on edge than ever before. We are grappling with unprecedented financial turmoil, political divisions, natural disasters, and physical and emotional disorders. How can this possibly be? Perhaps the Bible has something to say about this.
In Psalm 27:1 (CSB), “The Lord is my light and my salvation…” In Psalm 119:105 (CSB), “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” And in John 8:12 (CSB), “Jesus spoke to them again: ‘I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.’” Yet in the last generation, we have been lacking commitment to God and church. Essentially, our culture has snuffed out our spiritual lamp post. Could it be that in a God-omitted culture, we are now merely stumbling around in the dark? And where will this journey in the darkness without God leave us? Ponder that this week.