I have loved this part of this verse ever since I first heard it some years ago. Even then, before I was saved, I could see the truth of these words. Since my salvation, however, the light provided by the Word of God is evermore bright. Just as sunlight is essential to the growth of plant life here on Earth, the light (understanding and application) of God's Word is necessary to the spiritual growth of a Christian. That light doesn't always show us what we want to see, though.
From time to time, as I am studying my Bible, certain scripture - usually Old Testament - shows me something of who and what I was. A light is focused on something that I have not taken to God in its fullness. Things I thought I had dealt with through prayer and repentance rise up. When this happens I realize that I have not dealt with it specifically, or maybe on the level of attention it deserves.
"Forgive me for my sin whatever it might be" does not always work. Sometimes we have to confront issues from our past because we've not yet fully realized their impact on our lives and the lives of others. We have not yet dealt with some things properly before God. We don't want to admit these things to ourselves, much less to God. But when we do He is faithful to forgive, and He so mercifully frees us from the hold they have on us.
As I seek God's guidance that I may follow Him into becoming the man He intends for me to be, I find more and more just how far from that I really am. This is not disheartening to me, though. Because now I see it! All those years as a phony wannabe were spent in darkness. Try as I might, I could find little real meaning for my life in the Word. Nothing worked. It couldn't. The power source that propels a human being's life along THE path of God's perfect will for THAT person was not alive within me. I was a dead man walking for more than 40 years, and the worst part of that is that I didn't see it. I thought the light was in me and yet I knew that I was spiritually blind. My spiritual problem, I found, was that I had no real spiritual life.
Only when God opened my eyes to the darkness that I was could He shine His glorious Light upon me in grace and mercy and forgiveness. The truth of those beautiful words in "Amazing Grace", "I once was blind, but now I see" really do have meaning. If the words of the Psalmist are true, "The entrance of Your words gives light;" then we have to also recognize the truth of “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12.
Life is a journey.
For the lost it is a long, rambling walk in darkness. The shiny things of life pull this way and that, offering temporary gain, temporary pleasure, temporary allure. The truth of that path is obscured by a more-often-than-not unrecognized sinful nature. And the journey of the lost comes to no good end. In fact, it does not end. The worst moment of earthly life for the lost may as well be their best by comparison to the torture of eternal separation from God in a place that offers only pain, no rest, no peace, no pleasure . . . and no light.
For those saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, life is a guided tour through the will and the way of God. And tourists we are, for this earth is no longer our home. Some sweet day we will live eternally in Heaven, in the very presence of our Maker, our God, in a dwelling prepared for us by the Son of God Himself!. We will dwell in a place of unimaginable beauty and wonder. If you have ever felt the presence of God here in this life, then you have to agree that being there before His throne in praise and worship will be an indescribable experience.
On November 27, 2010, I will be 3 years old in the Lord! I cannot praise Him and thank Him enough for keeping me alive long enough to secure eternal life. And though I long to be with Him, I am so thankful that He has kept me here to tell others what He has done for me in hopes that they will accept what He has done for them as well. I do a poor job of it, but, still He abides with me.
The light of God's word doesn't always tell us what we would like to know about ourselves. If we take an honest look, we can see our own sinful life reflected in those words written so long ago. As much as we might regret our past we cannot constantly look back. Because the true Light of the Word, the Light of the World, the Word, came to offer forgiveness. If we know Jesus, then we know that He has set us free from our past. All of the chains that bound us have been broken! He has made us righteous and holy and able to enter into the most holy of places!
The same light that shows us who we were shows us who we can be, what God made us for and what Jesus Christ has made a way for us to achieve. I truly believe that the answer to any problem we have can be found in the Holy Bible.
"The entrance of Your words gives light;"
You don't have to wonder. You don't have to live in the dark!
I was darkness itself. Now I am light. Why would anyone reject this in their own life?
You wanna get lit?
Ephesians 5:8 (NIV) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light
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