Trusting in the dark

A friend of mine would get together with his fellow young cousins and move furniture around in his home and make a path to walk around and over in the dark. You would walk across the bedspread and maybe have to step down to the floor or up to get on top of a dresser, followed by climbing over a chair.  You get the idea.  It was not a contest, but meant to be fun.  And it was pretty tame because the person who made the path would hold your hand to guide you as you tried to figure out if you had to step up or crawl down.

You might think that holding someone’s hand took all the fear out of this obstacle course in the dark.  You couldn’t get lost and there was no danger of falling.  But there is something about being in the dark and not being able to see where you are going, and something always whispered that you couldn’t completely trust your cousin!

God’s Word is our guide in the dark.  We often find ourselves uncertain of that next step in life.  We get laid off, told we have a heart condition, or that a baby is on the way.  God’s Word urges us to trust Him, to pray to Him for guidance and help, but a voice inside of us whispers that we can’t trust Him.  Yet God’s Word assures us that the God of our salvation will never let us be separated from him.  We hold on to that Word and take the next step.

Sometimes we sin.  In the darkness that follows, we don’t know what to do.  A voice whispers that we are disgusting, despicable, that God would never take a sinner like us back. Then the Word of God calls us to repent, to turn back, to find forgiveness in the open arms of the Father who gave His Son for us.  We hold on to that Word, and take the next step.

God has given us a changeless Word to hold on to, even in the dark.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Word will never pass away.  So we hold on to that Word, and take the next step.

“Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ² Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you. … ⁶ Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." ⁷ What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? ⁸ And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? ⁹ Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” (Deuteronomy 4:1, 2, 6-9)