One of the most common metaphors in the New Testament is that of light and darkness. It is a powerful picture because we know how difficult it is to function in darkness. Visibility is vital for just about every human occupation. Our hands and feet work independently of our eyes and yet the eyes are important for directing the hands and feet and enabling them to function productively. It is likewise possible for us to function mechanically every day and yet be without any sense of the bigger picture within which we live our lives. It’s like fumbling around in darkness, but God is the light that brings everything into perspective. When we are facing God, we can see clearly. We see ourselves and our lives as they are, and we feel the goodness of what is good and the badness of what is bad. We see what we do and where we walk: it is all clear. However, when we turn away from facing God(something that most people do often), we find our faces, metaphorically speaking, in the shadow of our own turned heads. As we block the light from our own eyes everything falls into shadow. We have a memory of truth, but we lose sight of it. It becomes like the memory of a mountain top view. When you were there on the mountain it was invigorating and inspiring but now, in retrospect, it seems impossible to conjure up that same feeling just with the memory. If things seem dark to you; if God seems remote and you feel like you are fumbling along without any clarity, then stop and turn around.
Call out to God and ask him to draw you near to him.
Read Ephesians 5:8-14
