LIGHT IN THE GARAGE
The fluorescent lights in my garage started flickering a while ago. I
was afraid it would be a complicated fix, so we put off getting an electrician.
Finally, we did it. Jane made the call. The electrician came, took one look at
the lights, and told us it was just that the ballasts were old. He checked with
our house insurance, and they paid for all the new parts. It only cost $55.00
for the whole job, including parts.
We are afraid of the
things we don’t understand, in the physical as well as the spiritual. But so
often the fix is not nearly as difficult as we anticipate.
There was a good side and
a bad side to getting the lights repaired. The good side was that we could see
everything. The bad side was that we could see everything! WOW, so much dust
and disarray had collected in my garage when the lights were flickering and
low! It’s the same with us spiritually.
I have been working so
hard on so many projects, that my time in just reading the Bible was like the
garage lights—flickering. Then yesterday, I took several hours away from home just
to sit and study the Word of God. I did a word study on the word “sleep.” In
the process, I ended up reading many exciting chapters of the Bible and got all
kinds of new light on some current world situations as well as things in my own
life. It was thrilling.
Even in the very first
verses of the Bible, God talks about light: “And God saw the light, that
it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness”
(Gen.1:4).
The thing about light is
that it exposes any darkness. So when I had new bright lights in my garage, I
could see that I had work to do. I can now see the mess! Time to clean up.
Psalm 18:28 says: “For
thou wilt light my candle: The Lord my God will enlighten
my darkness.” If we want the dark places of our lives to be lightened, we
need to get that light of God turned on. First Corinthians 4:5 tells us:
“Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest
the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”
The supposition here is
that every man will have praise from God because he or she has sought light
from the Lord; the light has revealed the darkness and the person has received
the exchange of light for the former darkness. Then God is super happy because
light, and clarity, and peace is prevailing. Confusion, filth, and fear have
been removed. Isn’t that what we all want?
We get lazy sometimes and
make excuses for ourselves. I know I was lazy about getting someone to fix my
garage lights. Then because I couldn’t see out there very well, I didn’t bother
sweeping the floor. I didn’t see that some of my supplies had tipped over and
that I needed an all over general clean up. I asked myself, “What happened?
It used to be clean and organized out here!” But without proper light,
something awful happened. Yikes!
God is light, and His
“word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps.18:28).
If our time in reading the
Bible has been flickering like my lights, it’s time to get back to it. Let’s
not be apathetic in our Christian walk and think that it’s okay to expect the
Lord always just to give us revelation, rather than us having to actually sit
down with the Bible and read His Word.
When I started my study on
“sleep” yesterday, I went to BibleGateway.com and printed out the scripture
references. Then when I began to look them up, specific stories caught my
interest, and I had such a great time reading the context. By doing this, the
Lord was able to direct me and give me new insight on sections of scripture
that directly related to current events in my life as well as in the world at
large. It was awesome.
Jesus came in the flesh to
help people. His mission was and still is: “to open their eyes, and to turn
them from darkness to light” (Acts 26:18).
Let’s let the Word of God,
and the revelation of Jesus Christ, open our eyes and let the light shine in.
Love, Carolyn
THIS
WEEKEND THRU TUES: I’M
OFFERING MY SAMPLE BOOK: COMMITMENT
This is a sample book with 6 of the 61 chapters
from the complete book. These chapters are true life stories about the
tremendous and varied benefits you can receive from making a commitment to the
Lord.
