Sunday
Morning Bible Study
June 29, 2003
Darkness and Light
One of the themes woven through the Bible and especially the book of Job is
that of light and darkness. Seeing the
concept used over and over again, I was a little intrigued by it. The word “dark” or “darkness” is found some
34 times in the book. As I studied the
concept, I found there were at least four or five different Hebrew words used
to describe “darkness”.
I think that for most of us, from our earliest childhood, darkness is
something we don’t exactly enjoy.
Illustration
Scared in the Night
One dark summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking
her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with
a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?” The mother
smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear”, she said. “I have to
sleep in Daddy’s room.” A long silence was broken at last by a shaken little
voice saying, “The big sissy.”
As I’ve been looking at “darkness” in the book of Job, I think I can
summarize it all by saying that there seems to be three different kinds of
darkness.
#1 The fog of life
Job has struggled because he does not understand what is happening to
him. He’s “in the dark”.
(Job 23:17
NLT) Darkness is all around me; thick, impenetrable darkness is everywhere.
Sometimes the concept of darkness for us is that we are going through
things we don’t understand.
It’s not something we choose, it’s simply where we’re at.
Illustration
A psychiatrist was making his rounds at the state hospital one day when he
entered a patient’s room. He found patient #1 sitting on the floor, pretending
to saw a piece of wood in half. Patient #2 was hanging from the ceiling by his
feet. The doctor asked patient #1 what he was doing. The patient replied,
“Can’t you see? I’m sawing this piece of wood in half.” The doctor inquired of
patient #1 what patient #2 was doing hanging upside down from the ceiling. “Oh,
he’s my friend,” #1 said, “but he’s a little crazy. He thinks he’s a light
bulb.” The doctor looked up and noticed that patient #2’s face was turning red.
The doctor asked patient #1, “If he’s your friend, you should get him down from
there before he hurts himself.” #1 replied, “What? And work in the dark?”
Well, sometimes we have to work in the dark.
Lesson
Walk by faith
Job is learning to walk in darkness, to walk by faith.
Faith is what pleases God.
(Heb 11:6 KJV) But without faith it is impossible to please him:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him.
Faith is trusting in someone or something that you don’t see.
(Heb 11:1 KJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.
And that means that sometimes we’re going to have to be in
the dark in order to trust Him.
Paul wrote,
(2 Cor 5:7 KJV) (For we walk
by faith, not by sight:)
Yet if we’re going to learn to “walk by faith”, it means
that we’re going to have to go through times that we don’t understand, and
still trust God.
Illustration
Two Indians who had been watching a lighthouse being built came over to see
the thing open on the big day. It was
all set up with the lights and the bell and the horn; but the day it was due to
open, the worst fog of all fogs came in.
One Indian said to the other, “Light shine, bell ring, horn blow, but
fog come in just the same.”
Even as we are learning to let God’s light change our lives, we’re still
going to be in a fog sometimes.
Illustration
Never once since the world began
Has the sun ever stopped his shining.
His face very often we could not see,
And we grumbled at his inconstancy;
But the clouds were really to blame, not he,
For, behind them, he was shining.
And so—behind life's darkest clouds
God's love is always shining.
We veil it at times with our faithless fears,
And darken our sight with our foolish tears,
But in time the atmosphere always clears,
For his love is always shining.
John Oxenham
(1861–1941)
We need to keep walking with Him, even when we’re in the fog.
#2 Opportunity for sin
This is what Job is dealing with in our section in Job 24.
Job has been accused over and over again by his friends of being wicked. It’s
the only explanation they can offer as to why Job is going through difficult
times.
And so Job raises some questions for his friends. If God judges the wicked
in this life immediately, then why do wicked people get away with such
atrocious things? The first twelve verses of the chapter talks about how the
wicked abuse the poor people out in the country. Now he enters into a section
talking about how the wicked people prosper in the city by doing the things
they love to do in the dark.
(Job 24:13-16 KJV) They are of those that rebel against the
light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. {14} The
murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is
as a thief. {15} The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,
saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. {16} In the dark they dig
through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know
not the light.
:13 They are of those that rebel against the light
Jesus said that wickedness is done in the dark so it can’t be exposed.
(John 3:19-21 KJV) And
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. {20} For every one
that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. {21} But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his
deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy
It’s a picture of a murderer getting up before the crack of dawn to hunt
down his prey.
Jesus said,
(Mat 5:21-26 KJV) Ye
have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and
whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: {22} But I say unto
you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be
in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in
danger of hell fire. {23} Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and
there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; {24} Leave there
thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother,
and then come and offer thy gift. {25} Agree with thine adversary quickly,
whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver
thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast
into prison. {26} Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out
thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
The essence of murder is hatred. If
you are guilty of hating someone, then you are a murderer.
John wrote,
(1 John 2:9-11 KJV) He that saith he is in the light, and hateth
his brother, is in darkness even until now. {10} He that loveth his brother
abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. {11} But
he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth
not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Have you ever wondered why there are so many commands in the New Testament
to “love one another”? It’s because it
doesn’t just happen, we must learn to do it.
We are faced with a choice: The darkness of hatred or the light of love.
:15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight
Job is saying that adultery is a thing of the dark.
Jesus said,
(Mat 5:27-30 KJV) Ye
have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit
adultery: {28} But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust
after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. {29} And if
thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is
profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy
whole body should be cast into hell. {30} And if thy right hand offend thee,
cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of
thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into
hell.
It’s not just the initial thought or temptation that is sinful, it’s dwelling
on it, lusting after it, that becomes sin.
It’s not a sin to be tempted.
Jesus is saying we ought to do whatever is necessary to stop our lust.
Change your viewing habits. Change your reading material. Accountability.
Job himself said,
(Job 31:1 KJV) I made a
covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
If you find yourself in a place where you’ve got a whole load of lust
hanging out in your heart, you are not walking in the light, but in darkness.
The two choices: The darkness of
lust, or the light of purity
:16 In the dark they dig through houses
In ancient times, houses were often built out of sun-dried mud brick. Thieves
would literally “dig” through a wall to break into a house.
The Bible tells us what the opposite of stealing is:
(Eph 4:28
KJV) Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with
his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that
needeth.
The two choices we face are: The
darkness of stealing, or the light of giving.
It’s not hard to fall into the trap of thinking that the world owes you
a living. In reality, God wants you to
be a person that learns to give to those in need.
Darkness is the opportunity we take to sin.
:17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know
them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
know – or, “recognize”
shadow of death – tsalmaveth –
deep shadow, deep darkness, death-shadow (of distress, extreme danger)
I like the way that the New King James puts it:
(Job 24:17 NKJV) For the morning is the same to them as the shadow
of death; If someone recognizes them, They are in the terrors of the shadow of
death.
Job is saying that these fellows who are doing dark things don’t like the
light of morning. If someone recognizes
them while they’re in the middle of their sin, they become terrified.
#3 Hiding from problems
There’s a problem that some of us have, in that we don’t want to become the
person that brings that “terror” on someone close to us who is caught in a sin. If our loved one gets caught, we hope it will
be someone else that catches them. At the very least, we simply don’t want to
deal with the sin.
We see an example of this in Scripture in how David dealt with a problem in
his family (2Sam. 13).
Keep in mind, David didn’t have a perfect life himself. He had committed adultery with Bathsheba, and
was warned that his sin was going to affect his family.
And then the day comes when David’s oldest son, Amnon, rapes his own
half-sister, Tamar.
David hears of it but doesn’t do anything. Absalom, Tamar’s full brother,
hears of it and doesn’t talk about it, but instead begins to plot and scheme.
(2 Sam 13:21 KJV) But when king David heard of all these
things, he was very wroth.
David got angry, but he didn’t deal with things – chosing to keep the
situation in the dark.
Perhaps he thought he was too angry to be of any good. Perhaps he didn’t
want to face the fact that his son was going down the path of sexual sin, a
little too much like David’s own sin. Perhaps he thought that because of his
own sin, he didn’t have the right to deal with Amnon.
Eventually Absalom will come up with a plot to have Amnon killed. Though Absalom is completely responsible for
the murder of Amnon, I think there is a sense in which David helped Absalom out
when David, as king and father, refused to deal with the situation.
I’m not real excited about some of the things that modern psychology tells
us, but there’s a word that’s used in counseling that I’m beginning to
understand. It’s the word “enable”. Webster
defines it like this:
en•able en•abled; en•abling 1 a : to provide with the
means or opportunity b : to make possible, practical, or easy c
: to cause to operate 2 : to give legal power, capacity,
or sanction to
Lesson
Enabling darkness
We are supposed to “enable” each other, but we’re supposed to enable each
other to follow the Lord, not to sin.
As Christians, we are around folks who are doing the things of darkness,
and we have something that can help them. We have light. But sometimes, for one
reason or another, we’re a little reluctant to turn on the light.
We make a deal with darkness – we won’t bother the darkness and it doesn’t
have to tell us what’s going on. We
learn to keep our mouth shut.
I’m finding that when a person is addicted to the darkness, they tend to
tell me as a friend or their pastor what I want to hear.
They’ll even say things like, “I want to get better”. And the problem with
me is that I not only believe them, but I feel like the problem must be solved.
I think we need to learn to say, “I’ll believe you when I
see the light in you”, or, “I’ll believe you if I see your life change and stay
changed a year from now”.
When John the Baptist had people coming to him supposedly
repenting, he challenged them:
(Mat 3:8 KJV)
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
In the church, we are taught that we must confront sin. And if a sinner repents, we love, forgive,
and restore.
But if someone is caught in sin, and they don’t respond to love, grace, and
confronting according to Galatians 6:1-2, then there are steps of warning and
eventual even separation from that person, not to punish them, but to show them
the need to change (Matt. 18).
I think the most important thing is that we don’t keep the problem in the dark.
Paul said we weren’t just supposed to be good ourselves, but we are to also
expose things in darkness:
(Eph 5:7-13 KJV) Be not ye therefore partakers with them. {8}
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as
children of light: {9} (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and
righteousness and truth;) {10} Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. {11}
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove (NAS – “expose”) them. {12} For it is a shame even to speak
of those things which are done of them in secret. {13} But all things that are
reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is
light.
I’m not sure this means we are to set up a spy network and broadcast
people’s sins on the internet. But if we
have God’s light in us, things will get exposed.
Lesson
Get into the light
John wrote,
(1 John 1:5-7 KJV) This
then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God
is light, and in him is no darkness at all. {6} If we say that we have
fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: {7}
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
I think that once we start down a path of sin and try to conceal it from
others, we’re heading for trouble.
I believe that you may believe that you are very sincere
in wanting to change, but if you continue to lie about it and cover your sin
up, I believe you are going to stay defeated.
I believe that for many of us, learning to get the problem into the light
involves admitting to someone else that we have a problem. Sometimes it involves asking someone for
help.
Illustration
Debby Boone writes, “Every morning for two years I battled with my son
Jordan to get him up for school. Everything changed when he left his window
shades up at night. In the morning, the light filtered in and quickly awakened
on him. The presence of light solved our problem completely.
“As I read the Bible one morning, my struggle with Jordan
came to mind. I asked the Lord to show me how to let his light awaken the
places in my heart I was content to leave sleeping in the darkness. To expose
myself to God’s light, I must leave the window shades of my heart open and
willingly allow him to change me.”