The people living in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Matthew 4:16
sweetmonday-logoWell, here goes my confession: I’m afraid of the dark. I’m also a little claustrophobic. That should explain why I wouldn’t go down into the gold mine with my family on our summer vacation. Just thinking about going into a cave or a mine makes my stomach turn, my palms sweat, and my heart beat faster.
When God has created this beautiful world with blue sky, green grass and warm sunshine, why would you ever want to go underground where it’s dark and cold? My husband and children braved the 1000 foot drop in a cabled wire cage to explore and learn about gold mining in the Colorado mountains. I was getting so nervous waiting for them just to buy their tickets I had to leave before I contaminated their excitement with my anxiety.
Part of my fear goes back to visiting a cave when I was a little girl. The stalactites and stalagmites are beautiful and the brilliant lighting that they put on them shows God’s glory can in fact be seen above and below ground. What ruined it for me was when the park ranger turned off those pretty colored lights – ALL OF THEM – to show us what true darkness really is. I remember him telling us to put our hands in front of our face to see if we could see them. NOPE! Not a glimmer or a gleam of light – TOTAL DARKNESS – for what seemed like eternity – and I didn’t know how to get out of there! I got the point in a split second but it seemed like forever before the lights came back on and we finished our tour.
Life without Jesus is true darkness. Death without Jesus is eternal darkness. The whole reason He came to earth is to conquer that darkness forever! He left the glorious brightness of heaven and joined us, in this gloomy, sin-stained world, to lead us to the light! He knew what He had to do to rid the world of darkness forever. The Bible says it was for the joy that was before Him that He endured the agony of death on the cross and life’s darkest cave – the tomb, so that we no longer have to fear death! When He rose again Jesus turned the Light back on in this world! He has completely paid the penalty for our sins and gone into the cave of death for us so that by faith in Him, we never have to. We can live life without fear and walk in His glorious light straight into eternity – no dark caves to go through! When God has sent the Light of life, why would you ever want to live in darkness?