Darkness and the Light

Day three hundred forty-four

I've been making an effort to pray for all Christians lately.  It seems like the time of year where Christians could really make a difference in the world through their example.  Instead of getting caught up in the worldly view of Christmas it would be so much more impressive if Christians shared the real reason for their joy at this time of year, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I prayed that as a whole, Christians would be more Christ-like during this season and reflect His love for each person they meet.  May we leave each person feeling loved not only by us, but by Him too.

Job 24

One of the themes woven through the scriptures is that of light and darkness.  The word "dark" or "darkness" is found some 34 times in the Bible.  In the book of Job we find some discussion on this topic.  

I think most of us, from our earliest childhood, aren't comfortable in the dark.  Darkness is something that we don't exactly enjoy.   Because of that, I thought it was worth taking a closer look at. I found some interesting thoughts on three types of darkness:

The Fog of Darkness
Job has struggled because he does not understand what is happening to him.  He's "in the dark".

"Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face." (Job 23:17)

Sometimes the concept of darkness for us is that we are going through things we don't understand. It's not something we choose, it's simply where we are at.

Job finds himself in the dark so that he can learn to walk by faith.  Faith is trusting in someone or something that you don't see (Heb 11:1).  And that means that sometimes we are going to have to be in the dark in order to trust him.

Paul wrote, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Cor 5:7).  If we are going to learn to "walk by faith", it means that we are going to have to go through times that we don't understand, and still trust God.  We need to keep walking with Him, even when we are in the fog.

Darkness of Sin

This is what Job is talking about in chapter 24.  Job has been accused over and over again by his friends of being wicked. It’s the only explanation they can offer as to why Job is going through difficult times.

And so Job raises some questions for his friends. If God judges the wicked in this life immediately, then why do wicked people get away with such atrocious things? The first twelve verses of the chapter talks about how the wicked abuse the poor people out in the country. Now he enters into a section talking about how the wicked people prosper in the city by doing the things they love to do in the dark.

"They are of those that rebel against the light" (v 13).  Jesus said that wickedness is done in the dark so it can't be exposed (John 3:19-21)

"The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy" (v 14).  This is a picture of a murderer getting up before the crack of dawn to hunt down his prey. 

Matt 5:21-26 tells us that the essence of murder is hatred.  If you are guilty of hating someone, then you are a murderer. Yikes!  It makes sense when you consider that there are so many commands to "love one another".  Learning to love one another doesn't just happen; we must learn to do it.  We have to choose: The darkness of hatred or the light of love. 

"The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight" (v 15).  Job is saying that adultery is a thing of the dark.  It’s not just the initial thought or temptation that is sinful; it’s dwelling on it, lusting after it, which becomes sin.  It’s not a sin to be tempted.

Jesus says we ought to do whatever is necessary to stop our lust (Matt 5:27-30). Again you have a choice to make: The darkness of lust or the light of purity.

“In the dark they dig through houses” (v 16). In ancient times, houses were often built out of sun-dried mud brick. Thieves would literally “dig” through a wall to break into a house.

The scriptures tell us what the opposite of stealing is:

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” (Eph 4:28). 

The two choices we face are:  The darkness of stealing, or the light of giving.  It’s not hard to fall into the trap of thinking that the world owes us a living.  In reality, God wants us to be a people that learn to give to those in need.  Darkness is the opportunity we take to sin.

Hiding in the Darkness

We are supposed to enable each other to follow the Lord, but sometimes instead we are enabling sin. As Christians, we are around folks who are doing the things of darkness, and we have something that can help them. We have light. But sometimes, for one reason or another, we’re a little reluctant to turn on the light.  We make a deal with darkness – we won’t bother the darkness and it doesn’t have to tell us what’s going on.  We learn to keep our mouth shut.

 

When a person is addicted to the darkness, they tend to tell others what they want to hear.  Things like, "I want to get better".  We want to believe them, so we act as if we do, but often there is a voice that is telling us that the problem isn't really solved.  Would we be helping more if we said, “I’ll believe you when I see the light in you”, or, “I’ll believe you if I see your life change and stay changed a year from now”?

 

It is important that we don't keep the problem in the dark.  I think that once we start down a path of sin and try to conceal it from others, we’re heading for trouble.  I believe that we may believe that we are very sincere in wanting to change, but if we continue to lie about it and cover our sin up, we are going to stay defeated.  Learning to get the problem into the light involves admitting to someone else that we have a problem.  Sometimes it involves asking someone for help.  It means coming out of hiding in the darkness.

 

Job's understanding of the darkness would help him through this time of darkness.  He wasn't in the darkness because of sin, but because he lacked understanding.  We will all find ourselves in this position at some point in our lives.  We will experience that the darkness is not a comfortable place to be, it requires us to trust God more than we do ourselves.  It means having faith that the darkness will end and the light will once again shine on us.  It means we have to make the choice to believe in hope in a time of despair. It is a tough choice to make, but as we will see in the story of Job, it is a choice filled with blessings.