Choosing Darkness
4/2/14
How is that when we are
afraid that we revel in our present darkness but refuse to turn on a light for
guidance? Many of us have tried our best to stumble around a room
when it is dark believing that we know exactly what and where everything is
located. The same lies true for when we are scared and are in the
same conditions, instead of turning on a light to equal the setting we hide and
hope that conditions change on their own. What about living in
prolonged darkness, do we actually become used to that condition or just
oblivious to what is around us? It is important for us to understand
that living within these dark conditions will affect our physical and spiritual
lives and bad outcomes will ensure in both circumstances if we do not change
the playing field.
The majority of us have
some type of fear or animosity when it comes to the dark. Many
childhood memories of being afraid in the dark rattle our minds and for some
bring back severe crisis situations that stir up deep hidden emotions from
within. I am not an exception to this rule and my troubles with the
dark began when I was in Salinas, California; approximately in the 5th grade. When
I was a youngster I was not the most fearless person in the world. I
had my childhood hang-ups of course but on almost every level I proved myself
to be very cautious especially when it came to the areas of the unknown or uncertain
conditions around me.
There were no horror
movies that had penetrated our household nor were there any type of horrific
monster themes that were allowed in my room, so on that aspect of open doors,
those settings was closed. The normal routine was followed by
everyone in the house and I was comfortably tucked into my bed. My
room door was mostly closed with a small crack left open as always and up until
that night I paid no attention that my closet door was open. No
matter what the conditions might have been, I still had a human brain and it
functioned quite normally in the fact that at one point in time I had a
nightmare. This dream I had entailed that someone was trying to get
to me while I was trying to sleep. In my dream whoever the person
was came from out of the closet in order to obtain his access to my sleeping
world but for whatever reason I decided to wake up at that very moment and hear
what was going on.
I was frightened like
never before and really had no clue of what to do next. I knew that
my glasses were on the table next to me but I dare not leave my bed for fear of
giving the intruder direct access to my physical being. Confusion
ruled the moment so in my young human decision making I did what any other
human would do and that was duck my entire body under the covers and screamed
for help. It was not too much longer until my parents came into the room
and immediately turned on the light, asking me what the problem was. After
I was convinced that it was friendly voices I was hearing I moved the covers
from my face and took a quick glance around the room and then did my best to
focus my eyes on my parents.
As I looked around the
room I noticed that nothing was out of its place and that there was no evidence
that anyone had been in my room. I stared at my closet door and then asked
one of my parents to look inside the closet for that is where the person came
out of. After a thorough search, mainly to comfort me, my parents
said that there was nothing wrong with my closet and that I had nothing to
worry about any longer. I asked that they would close my closet door
just to be sure, which they did without any hesitation. Reluctantly
I agreed that they could go on with their evening activities. At
that moment I was not thinking about that as soon as they reached my door that
they would turn off my light again but that moment became very interesting as
soon as it arrived.
I felt myself being in
the exact same predicament as before my parents rushed into my room a few
moments before, scared and restless and having nothing else on my mind but
surviving the night. I eventually calmed down enough to fall asleep
and did not have any more bad dreams that night, but as soon as I hit the floor
in the morning I made another sweep of my closet making sure that no one was
present inside my room except for me and the necessary items that I had in my
room. Being a youngster I did not even think about that it was light
outside nor did I think about that when my parents came into my room the night
before that the first thing that they did was to turn on my light. I
was just concerned about how dark it was and who I believed was trying to get
to me while I was alone in my room. I really have not had too many
more nightmares throughout my life and I usually sleep pretty well each night,
but I must confess that even today my closet door still has to be closed each
night.
We all know that the
majority of the crimes that are committed around the world occur at
night. It does not matter if they are within the confines of a house
or building or they occur in the open air, the nighttime seems to be the better
setting since the victim is usually at the disadvantage because of the dark
conditions. The criminal has the best opportunity because they know
exactly where you are and has sought you out without you knowing about their
presence close by. Add the darkness to the setting and they have the
perfect ambush setting to complete their thievery.
I find it kind of amusing
that no matter what the situation might be, we humans like to stay within the
confines of the dark instead of trying to reach the safety of a light source
when times are troubled. However, I guess if one tries to function
within those limits then e question begs if we deserve to be treated in this
frightful manner? Do we enjoy these settings with a sense of pride
in order to fit in with society or do we just take glory in our settings
without taking comfort in our security? Being left in the dark is an
old cliché that really defines this type of condition and one that needs to be
addressed since if we allow this physical darkness to thrive around us we must
remember that we will allow spiritual darkness to infiltrate our lives as well.
It is a proven fact that
when a person is placed in a dark setting their senses becomes limited. Their
perception of the surroundings becomes obscured and they are placed at a
disadvantage when it comes to their security. As in the example of
my bad dream the first thing that my parents did when they entered into my room
was to turn the light on. A novel concept eh, why didn’t I think of
doing that? Turning the light on in my room leveled all fields that were
in play at the moment. If someone was in my room my parents would
have seen who it was and would have turned the tables of the situation. But
in reality no one was there and everything was in order, just as it should have
been. But I could not see this until that light was on, even though
I did not have my glasses on at the time I could see enough that I knew nothing
was out of place.
Our eyes are a wonderful
organ that gives us so many advantages over obstacles. And with our
eyes having the capability to adjust at night to allow more “light” into our
eyes when our surroundings are dark, it gives us the ability to navigate in
dark conditions. However, even though we can see our surroundings
after our eyes adjust to the dark, we still cannot know every detail that is
around us. We miss so many things when we are walking at the dark or
if we are sitting in a dark room. While this is a natural form that
we must endure it still places us in a “setup” position if we are not
careful. Not many of us tend to wander around the streets at night,
for we all know that this setting places us in a very dangerous position. Even
if we change our patterns or course, we are still at a disadvantage for even
with the change of pace or timing, we still cannot see those who are lurking
about.
So if the darkness is not
a friendly environment why do we continue to harbor ourselves within its
provisions? Have we lost the consciousness that being in the dark is
a security risk and even if we try and hide ourselves from the things that go
bump in the night that as long as we do not take measures to change the light
settings that our circumstances will not be on the level? There are
a couple of passages in Psalms that I want you to refer to and they are Psalms
88:12 and Psalms 143:3. Both of these passages use the word dark in
them but while the English language has problems discerning between different
origins of words, the Hebrew language does not. What also is
fascinating about these words is that they are related to each other and
represent a progressive attachment to our lives.
In the Psalms 88 passage
the word dark is used as the physical kind or the darkness that represents
night, or a room with the lights turned off. The verse also refers
to the wonders of God and everything that He has provided for us. If
we are scared in this type of darkness and do the common human thing by hiding
under our covers as I did when I had the bad dream, we are sunk. We
have no choice but to accept our current surroundings as fact if we do not
level our playing field. The only way that I could have understood
that no one was in my room that night was when my parents turned on the lights
and so goes the exact same setting of our physical lives. If we
choose not to turn on the light source that provides us with a guiding light,
we will always live in fear and will not be effective for what God has
commanded us to complete.
The passage in Psalms 143
refers to another type of darkness but one that involves a more direct and long
term condition. The word used here for darkness refers to a death,
destruction type of setting which is an advancement of the word “dark” used in
the previous verse. This darkness represents a progressed state and one
that has permanent results on a person or group. We can relate this
type of darkness to spiritual darkness for it takes time for the physical to
infiltrate the spiritual. Once this infiltration occurs, our
spiritual side becomes direct targets for lethal attacks on our lives. Our
enemy does not care what conditions we are in nor does he care what situations
we are enduring, he will use our status against us at any opportunity that
presents itself.
If our enemy recognizes
that we are not willing enough to turn on our physical lights to reveal the
truth about our surroundings, then he will take the authority by which we give
him and begin to work on our spiritual darkness. Whether we choose
to acknowledge it or not our enemy watches us and knows how we are going to
respond to thins as they occur in our lives. Humans do this on a
physical basis so why wouldn’t our enemy use this tactic on our spiritual lives
as well? This progression is a logical process and it is one that we
have allowed to continue until we have become so engrossed with our distorted
dark surroundings that we actually feel comfortable walking in the
dark. The longer that we walk in these dark conditions, our distortion
will eventually open the door for a perverted spiritual darkness which provides
an open season upon our spiritual beliefs.
There is a specific
reason that God has said that we should separate ourselves from the
world. Living in the darkness is a huge reason as to why this truth
is a fact and that we should not gamble with the world’s acceptance for any
reason. Look at the Church and the condition that she is in
today. She has done her best to follow the leaders of the world and
their accomplishments according to the world. She has left her
calling from her groom and has chosen to abandon her light source. It
is time that someone (the Church) stands up and turns on that light, for if the
light is not activated our hope is gone. We have become comfortable
enough to ignore what the scriptures have taught us and in this realm of
beliefs we have forgotten that God will include the Church in whatever trials
and shaking that He must do in order to grab our attention.
I was talking with one of
our good family friends the other night and he told me that everyone has some
type of fear when it comes to the dark. He told me a quick story
about when he was young and that not many people that he knows have had the
same type of fear at some point in their lives. He also said that
God must have placed this fear of the dark into our lives so that we may
recognize these conditions when they present themselves. What a
beautiful concept and such truth from him, and Him. This recognition
and fear factor is a part of God’s completeness and demonstrates that He has
instilled into our lives every aspect of security and protective needs that we need
to survive the world, not to join it.
Spiritual darkness also
incorporates the blindness of our eyes to the signs and wonders that God has
provided for us as warning signals to what the condition of our lives, the
Church and individuals have become. It is imperative that we turn on
God’s light within our lives so that we can understand what is exactly
transpiring around us and to stop our enemy from stealing our livelihood and
willingness to thrive as God’s Kingdom. It is time for each one of
us, the Church and our nation to repent and to turn from our wicked and darken
ways. The only way that peace and prosperity will ever return to our
physical hearts and to our spiritual hearts is if we complete this task and to
turn form our current status of lying in the dark. Restoration does
not and cannot be completed in the dark; it must have light in order for the
process to be correctly administered.
This status can only mean
one thing. You and I need to lose the world’s darkness and turn on
the light of God. There can be no life without the light of God in
our lives. His light provides us with every security measure needed
in order to maintain a healthy physical and spiritual life. If you
choose to continue in the world’s darkness, it will be proud to lead you down a
dead end path. The other choice is to read history, follow mankind’s
actions from the past and see where our beliefs are taking us, but when these
are placed in the light, God will surely provide the necessary answers of how
to defend ourselves against the world. But restoration can only
occur if we stop, turn from our ways and allow God to intervene and shine His
light into our lives.
DLB
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