Have you ever been in a very dark place where it would be dangerous to take even one step without first getting a light? I have! It was a cave, deep under the earth, where I was taking a tour with a group of other people. We all had lights with us. But once we got very deep down under the earth, where no light from the sun could reach us, our guide told us to turn off our flashlights. The darkness was so thick that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face! I could also hear running water, and I knew I could fall into it if I tried to walk. It was so nice when our guide told us to turn our flashlights back on!
Do you like to be in a dark room where everything is a mess? I don’t. When you can’t see where you’re going in such a place, it would be easy to get hurt, just like in that cave I visited. Long ago, this whole world was completely covered with darkness and it was a terrible mess. Water covered the whole surface of the land. Nothing could live here. There were no people, no beautiful trees, no houses, no animals. But God, who is very good, came to this chaotic place and began a very good work. What is the first thing you would do in such a place? I know I would want to turn on a light! And the very first thing God did for this messed-up earth was to say, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:33And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)). God is so powerful that He only has to say something, and whatever He says, happens! The next part of that sentence in the Bible says, “And there was light.” Now that God had made light, there was one good thing in this big messy world. God saw that light and saw that it was good. Light is a good thing, isn’t it? When it is dark outside and the sun comes up in the morning, it’s like a big light gets turned on, and you can see things clearly again. We all should say “thank you” to God every day for this first good thing that He made!
After this, God divided between light and darkness. That way, half of the 24-hour day would be light. He called that part Day. And half of the day would be dark, and He called that Night. God didn’t want His good gift of light to mix with darkness. That wouldn’t make sense, would it? Then there wouldn’t be any clear light at all!
There are people and places in this world that are in a certain kind of darkness, because they don’t want God. If you are a Christian, God wants to keep you safe from things that belong to that dark part of the world that is far from God. He wants you to stay close to Him, so that you can be safe and happy in His good light, because He loves you so much.
But He also loves those people who are in darkness, and so He wants you to shine for Him if you know Him. You can be like a light in the darkness if you tell others about Jesus. Then maybe they will want to live in God’s wonderful light too!
Messages of God’s Love 10/11/2020