“I would rather walk with God in the dark; than
go alone, and walk in the light
As I know with him
by my side, the darkness will be ever so bright” Debbie Looney.
I was so intrigued by this poem when I first read it a
few years ago, not only because it so beautifully articulated what we believe
in the Christian faith, but the depth of faith in God instead in self. It can
easily be misunderstood as a human need for company, but I reckon it expresses
man’s deep need for guidance, because regardless of how bright it/you may be; human beings will
intentionally take the sinful path anyway. I suspect that part of the reason
people do that is the misunderstanding of what is more valuable between the
body and what the body contains, the spirit. We like to feed the container and
totally disregard the content. We feed the outside which only helps us to be
more arrogant, proud, greedy, and we forget the spirit which can produce of
love, peace, kindness, joy, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness and patience
which we would all agree that we need in our lives. When human being have
problems which commonly have to do with the heart, they often try to fix it
with something that is far from being the solution; alcohol, drugs, sex, etc
which ends up hurting them more. Clearly we are our own worst enemies and
cannot be trusted with ourselves, hence we need God. There is something that
has gone terribly wrong in the human spirit and it needs to be dealt with
spiritually, any attempt to deal with it physically will lead to more
frustration because “flesh gives birth to flesh, but spirit gives birth to
spirit”
The tragedy of a life led by self is that self is
conditioned to live in the dark without realizing it. So when I follow self’s lead, I am moving in
a direction which seems right but has devastating repercussions in the end;
hence the proverb “there is a way that seems right in the eyes of man, but in
the end leads to destruction”. Self has
a way of messing things up when he has all the resources to do the right thing.
Self lives for NOW and wants to be satisfied NOW and seldom considers the
future. He does not consider that
“whatever you do today will affect your future”. Self is all about pleasure and will always
reminding you of things like “you are still young, you need to enjoy your life
to the fullest” and intentionally forgets to let you know that “God will judge
you for all that you have done”(Eccl. 11:9). I gave up following him; I woke up
to the truth, that I cannot continue playing God. God is the only one that
knows the end of the beginning, knows the path to everlasting life that we all
so yearn for if we were all to be really honest with ourselves. I realized in Christ that life was far deeper
than what meets the natural eye, the physical.
Part of following Christ for the disciples was letting go of self so
that they can receive the gift of God who was the Christ. They had to trade something small for
something bigger than themselves, which was Christ; the son of the living God.
Moses refused to leave without the presence of God. In
Exodus 33:15 he says these words: “... If you are not going with us, please do
not let us leave this place ...” Moses knew where he was going, he knew how to
get there but he acknowledged that he needed God who knows everything. Moses
could have just said; “well, if you don’t come I will just get a map and find
my way to the Promised Land.” But knowing that he was helpless leading the Israelites
himself, he acknowledged his need for God to go with them. This was not for companionship;
he had Joshua and Aaron who were close to him. This was a different kind of need;
he needed guidance from God which Joshua and Aaron could never give because
they need it themselves.
Joshua 24 ... Joshua gathers all the tribes of Israel and
gives them a history lesson. He reminds them of Abraham their father. He tells reminds them of how he parted the
red sea and made them walk on dry land. How they crossed the Jordan River
without drowning and many other miracles that he performed. Then in v15 he says something that I think is
still relevant for the modern Christian,
“... Choose today
whom you will serve ...” It’s almost as of God was reminding them of the times
when he was with them and the times they worshiped other gods (relied on self).
And from that history lesson, there was some homework ... CHOOSE WHOM YOU WILL
SERVE. I had my one on one history lesson and the same question was asked as
homework, and I have chosen to let go of self and serve God. Won’t you attend your one on one history
lesson and do your homework and give your answer to the master teacher, Jesus
Christ...
God Bless You
Prayer
Lord, I acknowledge that too often I try to work it out
myself
And neglect the call of your spirit to a life of
righteousness and
Justice. I pray that
you rid me of myself and fill me more
with yourself that I may reflect you more than myself.
Today I choose to follow the lead of your Holy Spirit. Amen
