Darkness and Light

There is a long ago Joni Mitchell song called shadows and light. WOW, I'll bet you never thought you would hear of a prophet speaking about a Joni Mitchell song.  Yet while the song has nothing to do with this other then the title, there is a reason.  The song deals in contrasts.  That of darkness and of light.

If the world can see the contrast how much more must we be aware of a darkness that can invade our lives.  The problem is for many we try hard to push back the darkness by blocking it's intrusion.  So we shut off the TV, stop reading the newspaper, stop reading blogs, in essence we block out ears and say LA LA LA LA.  Hoping  that somehow by this flesh driven action we can push back the darkness in our lives. There is a time for that sometimes, but we must learn to stand against.

Here is truth:  You can't fight darkness by hiding from it.  It's still darkness.  It's still there.  It's still a threat.  There is only one way to fight the darkness... light.

When toured a cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the guide took us into the deep dark inner chamber. It was very interesting.  He had everyone shut off all the lights.  It was dark. Pitch dark.  Zero light. He kept speaking to us to let us know he was there yet the darkness enveloped the whole group.  No one panicked.  No one was fearful.  The one who knew the way up was there and speaking.  Our eyes tried to adjust to the darkness but none came.  Finally, he lit one small lamp.  It wasn't much but to our widened pupils it seemed like a beacon.  At once the darkness fled.  Light overcame.  It always does. 

The problem isn't the darkness.  It's the lack of light.

Light comes as the Holy Spirit Hovers over the face of the deep darkness and speaks.

Genesis 1:2-4 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

It's exactly like that in our lives.  Darkness can settle in.  Despair.  Discouragement.  Disasters.  Things that cause us to stumble because we can't see.  Yet Holy Spirit hovers over us to bring light, to speak to us and separate light from darkness.  Just as happened in the natural in the cave.

The face of the deep in our formless void world without God cannot be brought into order by hiding from it.  For a season of healing perhaps, but in the end we must respond with the Spirit in US... light shining in dark places.

Never encountering and overcoming darkness will make cowards of us all.  The enemy wants us to fear darkness, not to confront it.  Certainly not to overcome it.

God is still in the light shining in a  dark place business.  He want to shine in and thru YOU today.  He is not intimidated by deep and dark.  Think of this, the very creation came from life in the sea sustains us to this day.  By light.  The darkness we see has potential in the Spirit to be the very carrier of the new reformation to come.  We are doing a good thing confronting and overcoming darkness with light.

Carry the Light.  Fear NOT the dark.   He speaks even there.