Christian Living

A Light in the Darkness

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
05/12/21
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“Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances.” (Psalm 119:105-106)

If God is love, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8), then Satan is hate. If truth is light, then darkness is deception. If God is the Father of Lights, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” (James 1:17), then Satan is the father of darkness. If God’s Word is truth, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17), then Satan is the father of lies. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

Since the fall in the Garden of Eden, man has lived in a world filled with the darkness of Satan. He deceived Adam and Eve by twisting God’s truth, and he has continued throughout the ages using that same tactic against the weak-minded people of this world who have rejected the truths of God’s Word. “In whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:4) Satan is a fallen angel cast out of Heaven because of his pride and desire to be the Most High God. Satan was foolishness as none can be holy as the Only true God. There is none like Him, and there is no equal. Yet, Satan was an archangel and is very powerful, and man is no equal for his deceit. The Prophet Daniel speaks of Satan in these words. “And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency.” (Daniel 8:25)

The man fell to the temptation in the Garden of Eden that he could be as God. The same error that Satan himself fell to. Satan has not learned and operates to rob God of as many of the crowns of God’s creation, Men’s spirits, as he can. Each spirit of men that Satan can rob causes great pain to God, as men are the objects of His love. Satan will deceive every heart and soul of a man that he can to hurt God. Satan can disguise himself as God. “No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) Men of their own selves have no power to discern the wiles of Satan. Man unyielding to God’s Truth will seek his own truth and believe it to be light. “Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness.” (Luke 11:35) How then is a man to navigate through the darkness of this world?

All of us have at one time or another been afraid of the dark. We sometimes stumble around in the dark, tripping over obstacles in our path that we did not see. There are times when we find ourselves in a strange place in the darkness and do not know which way to go. In both these situations, what would happen if a light came on? We would see the obstacles in our way and not stumble. We could see the signs and not lose our way. What happens when the light comes on, and where does the darkness go?

We are walking in a darkened world by the deception of a powerful fallen angel; how can we know what is true and twisted? Popular culture cannot be true as it is not secure and is ever-changing with people’s opinions. If their truth of yesterday became wrong today, then it was never true. Many of the worldly-wise have had to recant their wisdom as being in error. There can be only one truth, the enduring truth before the beginning, and it shall be true throughout all the ages. That is the only truth, the truth of the Creator, which is the Word of God. In the darkened deception of this word God’s Word gives us the light to find our way through the darkest times.

The Word of God is the absolute truth spoken to us from the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Through His love and grace, God gave us His Word that we may know the way through the darkness of this world and find His path to the Kingdom of Heaven. In our text, we read, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” We don’t have to stumble over the obstacles that Satan has placed in our way because we have a lamp that shows us the way. We do not have to wander along lost in the dark because His Word is a light for the path where we are bound. The Scriptures from God, our Bible that through His grace we have the light of His truth that we will never lose our way.

That is why we should read, study, and meditate on His Word. That way, the light will always be on for us, and we will be able to see the lie and deceit of the evil adversary that has come to seek, kill, and destroy us. (John 10:10) Scripture is always accessible by the printed word, and it can be placed on our phones, spoken by our friends, and revealed by our prayers to the Father. We can always have His light on that we will never lose our way in the darkness.

It is God’s Word, and the power of the universe is resident within its covers. All questions of life, all solutions to life’s troubles, and all the promises that give our hearts hope and purpose are found between its covers. If we would but meditate on His Word, God promises to reveal its truth in our hour of need. “For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:12)

Jesus promised that when we follow Him in faith, He will send the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. The Spirit will disclose to us the hope that we have in the things to come. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16:13) We will not be left as lost children without a guide, as the Holy Spirit will be our counselor. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 14:26) Therefore, we have His light with us always.

Our salvation is a gift by the grace of God, but it requires a commitment on our part to promise to follow Jesus and walk in His ways. The next verse tells us that we are to make this vow and keep it.  “I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances.” Verse 106. We need to keep God’s Word in our hearts readily available to guide our steps each day and produce the good works we are called to accomplish. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Jesus is the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) In Him, we find our life, and He is the light that leads us through this world. “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (John 1:4-5) Jesus is the light that shines through us, and the people living in the darkness will see it. There will be a contrast between the people of the darkness and those living in the light. They should see a difference between those who are slaves to the adversary and those who serve their Lord Jesus Christ. They will see the life of the Christian and see that his life is abundant. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Jesus gave his life as an act of His love for humanity that they may be freed from the bondage of sin, that they may have abundant life here in this world and abundant eternal life in His Kingdom. We must believe in Jesus and follow Him in faith, and we must believe in God who sent Him for our redemption. Jesus is the light, and He is the Word of God which is the light that shines on the dark path we trod in this world.

God’s word is light for our dark path, and the Bible also says that Jesus is light for our dark path. We are to keep His light, His Word in our heart, that we will not be bewildered as we sojourn through this world. “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-21)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

Pleasant Manor, August 27, 2016