In Dark Direction

In Dark Direction

8/23/17

Humans have the ability to adjust to about any variance that presents itself in our paths, but it is how we adapt to this pattern that either makes us successful or a failure at our endeavors.  Why would we precisely choose to inhibit our progress by bringing on board the hindrance of darkness?  We can adjust to this type of surrounding but will be limited in our abilities because of the lack of necessary light present to do an accurate and thorough job.  God provides such a light so that we can know exactly what is around us and what to look out for when the dangers arise.  Isn’t it about time that we begin to use His light instead of shooting it out?

Summertime brings us many hours of long light and hot environmental conditions and no matter where one may be in this land this time of year means that our lawns need to be cut and maintained.  We have plenty of time to accomplish this task and it does not matter what day we choose to mow our lawn we have the time to complete it.  Of course, being in this country during the summer means that the days are hot and could pose extra unwanted weather conditions that would harm us so many of us tend to wait until the evening hours to mow the lawn when it is cooler.  It is at this time that we must ensure that we do not wait too long for when the sun begins to dip it does so with a steady pace and we can find ourselves rushing to complete the task we waited to do.  It was my choice to complete this task at this time of the day so I would have to accept the results of my efforts and feeling confident enough to believe I made the correct choice.

I have been guilty of mowing my lawn when it is too dark, and at the time of the completed task believed that I had done a pretty good job at what I had done.  But when the next morning came and the sun began to rise, I would open the curtains to the yard and get a horrific look at the poor job that I actually did.  One would believe that I did not care about how my lawn looked for the mowed rows were not straight and in some spots totally missed.  The yard looked worse after my botched job than it did uncut, a haphazard product that I would have to redo because the results would haunt me if I allowed it to stay in such a manner.  This belief of mine would seem a bit zealous to many but a natural fact in my book and one that I would fret over if not fixed as soon as possible.  Then the question becomes, would I have been better off if I had mowed the lawn in better light and be subjected to a bit more uncomfortable conditions or accept my efforts as is and do them again?  The answer to this question should be pretty clear but how many times do we not even bother changing the results afterward and allow the darkened direction of our efforts lie finished?

Before I left the house the other morning God directed me to write this article and to complete it as soon as possible.  I continued my morning routine by getting ready for work after He showed me these things.  It has been a while since the notes for this article were jotted down but I could not believe my eyes this morning when I saw a certain group of lights breaking the darkness as I drove to work.  It is mid-to-late August which means that school is starting for many students or has already begun for others.  This also means that football practice has begun and what we call two-a day practices are in full swing.  Early in the morning, the practices begin and then commence once again in the early evening.  As I drove to work I took a glance at the Grand Mesa which was on my left and as soon as I did my eyes caught a glimpse of three banks of lights in the town of Cedaredge, my heart jumped for I knew that the ones trying out for one of the local high school teams were on the field and under the lights.  But what if those lights were not on?  How would those students be able to shine for their school or their town?  What about their spiritual lives, how would they shine if their spiritual guiding light was out?

Every single person has had to face a setting in which the lights have darkened or even been completely turned off for some reason.  This sudden change in lighting throws our senses off and freezes us for a few moments until our eyes become adjusted to the new conditions.  We have conversed about this type of sight impediment before and how it is awful to have to function in these types of conditions but why would we voluntarily darken our paths and make it difficult for us to function effectively and properly by turning out the lights that we need?  The invention of light is a fabulous commodity in that without it, our production level would be severely limited and we all know that when working in the dark the finished product shall not be up to the standards that others need, thus causing them to go elsewhere for their necessities.

How scary is it when this type of setting occurs in our lives even though we instantly remember that the lighted path we once knew was clear and void of any major obstacles?  Our natural response is to stop and wait for a bit but this takes time which is something that our path may not understand which in turn makes us vulnerable to the conditions around us.  We become uneasy and our tension level automatically rises and soon our direction becomes in question and we are afraid to take another step.  Yet, somehow we find it within us to lash out at those passing by or when something hits us that we did not see coming and we now become an ideal target for anyone or any object around us.  No one likes being left in this position for it paralyzes us and ignites a sense of dark torture because no one likes to be left in the dark.

Do we understand that this would be the manner in which we would live if we did not have the sun or light itself to guide us?  I can guarantee you that the productivity of the world would be greatly diminished if we had to operate in such dark condition in a continual manner and think about how our daily results would be changed as well.  I thank God every day that He created my eyes so that I can see what is going on around me and how much they can change when the environmental conditions are altered.  The big hoopla right at the moment is the solar eclipse and how much it will change the daylight.  I find it hilarious that many people are panicked over this event but you know something, if any disaster occurs it will be the confidence of humanity that will respond to such event and we will then understand just how dark we have allowed our lives to become and when we look back at our path will realize just how much of our lawn we have missed while mowing.

A few months ago God shared with us the importance of light and what it means to our existence.  God knows that if we cannot see what is going on around us that we are sitting ducks and will be easy targets for those who wish to do us harm.  God also understands that this darkness can infiltrate our spiritual lives as well which is why He gave us His Word to serve as the light to our spiritual path and to serve as our defense when needed.  God “slapped” His eternal enemy in the face when He created light because the name Lucifer means bright light and it was obvious that he could not even understand the origins of his own name much less effectively create it himself.  It is important that we have the ability to see at all times not just periodically or when we believe we need it for walking anywhere in the dark places us in a vulnerable position, so why purposefully turn the light off?

I recently had the opportunity to hear a portion of an interview that Rob Bell gave to Oprah and the portion of the interview that I heard broke my heart.  Many of you know that Rob Bell was a pastor of a large church and still has a gigantic following of people who listen to him regularly.  In the interview, Oprah asked the question if the church was ever going to accept gay marriage within the confines of their beliefs and what Mr. Bell answered provides us with what God is trying to warn us about in this message and it is about voluntarily accepting the world and turning off the eternal light that God has so divinely provided for us.  He answered that the Church was gradually coming to the realization that words from a text that was written over 2000 years ago were irrelevant and unnecessary in today’s life, and that we needed to discard this text and refer to a more modern ideology of values.  Of course, Oprah loved this statement and agreed with it completely and to be honest, it must have been one of the moments that stunned the angels because they heard the light of God being voluntarily and deliberately turned off with those words. 

In Genesis, God gives us a clear definition of our lives and of our dominion and what to do with it at all times.  We cannot complete this command from God unless we have each and every element that God created before He created mankind and if we choose to turn off or to ignore these necessary elements then we are automatically inviting our own eternal destruction.  We are not able to function properly in a dark setting and our emotions and motions in such a condition will be choppy and jerky at best, providing our enemy with a slow moving target that is easy for picking off.  Now, we have begun to turn off the eternal light in our lives as well and choosing to accept the darkness of the world instead.  Why would anyone, anywhere choose to work in the dark for a single moment much less for a long term opportunity?  Why have the leaders of the Church been the ones to deliberately turn off the eternal light that we need to survive?  The answer to this question is quite clear as well it is because we have been deceived enough to lose the recognition of God’s voice and have replaced it with the voice of the world.

In Psalms 119:105 the reason for God giving us His light is provided for us: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  Do you want to know why God wanted to create light for us?  The answer is right here in this verse because it shall serve as the element that will guide our lives as we continually walk down the path of life.  God never meant to provide a path that is dark, for our path in life is dangerous enough why would God not provide the necessary elements to make things easier?  It is our choices to turn off God’s light that makes things more difficult for our daily lives, not God.  When we turn God’s light off it shall stun us yet we hear the voice of the world instead and follow its lead and before you know it we are hit with a rock that makes it target right in our gut, or on our head.  Eventually, that target will be our heart and when the world and its dark rocks hit our heart, we will be permanently changed.

How much more time can we afford to be living in the dark?  Every day I turn on the news and my eyes and ears watch reports of tragedies that have occurred around the world.  The steps of mankind’s superficial laws shall not provide the necessary light that we need to live in a perfect and holy world, only God’s Ways can provide such an answer.  When we watch these events occur we can only imagine as to why people act in such manner, but if we would not turn off the light that provides these answers we would not even have to ask that question in the first place.  We must remember something about the path that we take for if we cannot see adequately enough our steps will become jagged and staggered for we will be subjected to a continuous bombardment of rocks that the world (our enemy) throws at us.  Those rocks will become bigger and more directed if we do not turn on the light that God has provided for us.  Those rocks hurt and they are meant to pelt us with their full force when aimed at their target.  We also must keep in mind one very important detail, those rocks are being thrown at us which means that someone has to be throwing them for rocks do not hurl themselves at anyone alone.

God is not the being behind the rock throwing contest it is the ruler of the world who is the one responsible for this activity.  Why would God purposefully harm His children without their knowledge of what is going on around them especially when it is He that gave us the gift of knowing His Word?  This would make God a hypocrite, one who would set a person up to fail which is not the personality of God.  It is always our choice to either follow God or not and if we do not that will automatically place us in the dark and thus become vulnerable to those rocks.  God has the perfect lighting equipment that we need all we have to do is flip that switch on and by that I mean we must open and study His Word for it is this alone that provides us His Light.

Pastor Rob Bell you have no idea who I am sir but believe me when I am called to set into motion the Light of God for His children your deception shall be exposed.  God loves you with all of His heart and He has called you to serve as His Light to the world but your acquired beliefs are of a darkened nature and what you are proclaiming about the state and beliefs of the Church may be accurate but they are of a deceptive manner and that belief shall lead many people astray and possibly to an eternal separation from God.  It is through these deceptive teachings that you embrace thus promote, rocks shall plummet down on God’s children and they shall not understand why these events are occurring and where they are coming from either.  Please, study God’s Word again and then listen to His voice and not the voice of the world for the answers we are all seeking and need are contained within this eternal Truth text.

Church, turn on the light of God and shun the world, you know how to do this for it is you who Jesus commissioned to do such things to the dying world.  There is a reason the world is dying why be a part of that process?  Nothing can ever grow in complete darkness it needs light in order to produce the necessary elements to live.  To teach to the people worldly standards means you are deliberately turning off God’s Light thus halting any advancement of the Kingdom of God.  Church, stand tall and stand fast against the world and everything that it represents for it this truth that the Kingdom of God (you) battle against.  We were created to be a viable and movable presence and not just petty incumbents meandering aimlessly with no purpose.  You want to see the bombings stop. The terrorist activities cease, the weird accidents disappear and the sexual abnormalities fade?  Then turn on the Light of God and allow us to see what wickedness lies beside us.  We are covered in filth which gets under our skin when those rocks pelt us from every direction.  We have the ability to stop this torturous journey all we have to do is turn God’s Light back on in our lives, for it is Ordained and Written that we do not have to proceed in a dark direction.

DLB