The World Grows Darker

It’s no secret we live in a dark world, spiritually speaking.  That said, from my own experiences, there have been times in my life when events have occurred, and it was like I could feel the world grow a little bit darker.

There was the day I was sitting at my newspaper job and an article about area churches participating in an interfaith service came across my desk.  Seven area churches were to participate.  My first response, as it often is, was anger.  I wanted to go grab those seven pastors by their neckties and give them the tongue lashing of their lives.  I believed, and still do, that they’re the worst kind of lost.  I say that because they’re among the lost who sincerely believe they are okay and are deceiving others into believing the same thing.  Christians have no business being a part of an interfaith service.  The second we join in such foolishness we’ve undermined the very foundation of our faith because the central truth of Christianity is that Jesus is the one and only way to salvation.  My next response was sorrow.  I remember fighting back tears because how would I explain to my coworkers that I was remembering the naïve college student sitting in a systematic theology class listening to lectures on various worldviews and thinking that, though it was quality information and very well-presented, it was far removed from my small-town life and secretly wishing I could still believe that.  My world grew darker.

Another day at my newspaper job, proofing the court news, there it was—the name of a once very dear friend followed by a list of charges that will follow him forever.  This time there was only sorrow.  Life had obviously carried us in very different directions, and all I could do was pray that this was what it took for God to reach Him.  My world grew darker.

Then, today at my other job at a small family-owned convenience store in Springfield, AR that’s still closed on Sundays and doesn’t sale alcohol, where most of the customers are just good ole country folks, a young man comes up to the register and asks me if I’m single.  I answered honestly, and he asks, “You want to make $200?  All you have to do is ‘hang out.’”  Again, the first response was anger.  He would go on to tell me he was good looking and could be my new boyfriend.  I snapped that he was full of himself, and I was good on my own.  I’ve never punched anybody, but a very large part of me wanted to knock his lights out.  My next response, after I had time to calm my temper—sorrow again.  He’s so lost.  He doesn’t even know that there was anything wrong with his actions.  In fact, he thinks the whole thing was funny.  Granted, I laughed about it too, but I laughed because sometimes you have to.  My world grew darker.

Those were very real experiences in my life.  Most likely, as you read them, you thought of some in yours.  I think of the night the White House was lit in rainbow lights.  The world grew darker.  I think of when it was announced that Caitlyn Jenner had won woman of the year.  The world grew darker.  I’m sure I could name more, but you’re probably thinking this is a super depressing post, and it is in many ways, but stay with me.

I can’t think of how bad the world has grown without feeling a wide range of emotions.  I feel incredibly blessed and have to thank God that I was born the daughter of Robert and Melba and grew up on pew number two of sound, Bible-believing churches, blessed that I accepted the Lord as my Savior and don’t regret that decision one bit, blessed in so many other ways.

Then, I also feel despair.  Despair because I know the world could end at any minute and so many, so many aren’t right with the Lord and will find themselves in Hell if they don’t change before it’s too late.

But, I want to leave you with hope.  I feel hope because I remember a sermon illustration I heard one time.  I don’t remember who was speaking or where I was, but he said something to the effect of:  if you light a flashlight in a well-lit room, it’s hard to tell it’s even on.  But, if you light that same flashlight in a pitch black room, it’s going to shine and shine brilliantly.  As the world grows darker, and darker, and darker, Christians have the perfect opportunity to shine brilliantly, to stand out and make an impact, to spread the true Light.  Are we going to take it or let it pass us by?

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  -Matthew 5:16.

 

Little Nudges

I have a tendency to be a bit on the stubborn side—or a lot on the stubborn side, and sometimes I pay for it.  Case and point:  A few months ago we had to replace the dehumidifier in the basement.  So Mom went and picked up a new one, which was sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.  Naturally, she decided it was time for it to make its way out of her kitchen, so she asked Dad if he was going to take it to the basement and bring up the old one to dispose of it.  He teasingly said something to the effect of, “I thought Sam would take care of it.”  (After all, the basement is my domain.)  To which, Mom replied, “Sam can’t carry that thing.”  I was sitting at the kitchen table for this whole exchange, and seeing as I’m not overly fond of being told I can’t do something, I let Dad know right quick that I would take care of it.  Carrying the new one downstairs was no problem.  It is smaller and composed of more plastic than metal.  Carrying the old one upstairs was a different story entirely.  Like any good dad, Dad was right behind me in case I fell over and the bulky, heavy thing crushed me and was no doubt shaking his head at me the whole time.  I made it upstairs with it, thereby proving to my Mother that I could in fact carry both of them.  I also bruised both knees, and my back hurt for the next three days, but I didn’t tell my parents that.  That’s called being stupidly stubborn in case you’re wondering.

I can also be stubborn when it comes to spiritual matters, which is far more significant than stubbornness that leads to bruised knees and back aches.  We recently started a new Sunday school quarter.  For me, that means I have to have one set of lessons completed, and I have to decide where I’m going for the next quarter and get started.  The goal is always to go where the Lord would have me go rather than just pick a book I like or think would be easy.  This time I really felt like it was time to turn to a book in the Old Testament, and the only book that would come to mind as I prayed about it was Ruth.  Now, Ruth is my favorite book of the Old Testament and one of my favorite books in all of Scripture, so I was a little worried that I was just going to something familiar and something I would enjoy.  But, when nothing else would come to mind, I decided to sit down and get started with Ruth.  First attempt.  No success.  Second attempt.  Still no success.  Third attempt.  You guessed it.  I got nowhere.  Needless to say, I was beginning to think Ruth was a bad idea, yet still no other book from the Old or New Testament would come to mind.  So things were pretty much at a standstill.

As I prayed for God to show me where to go or how to begin if Ruth was the right place to go, I kept thinking, “You need to write the introduction.”  Simple enough, right?  Even makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?  Well, not if you’re stubborn.  You see that is not my process.  I always jump right in and come back at the very end and write an introduction for the book.  So, instead of sitting down and writing the introduction, I was thinking things like, “But I never write the introduction first” and “that’s such a little thing; how would that help?” Finally, growing tired of going nowhere and feeling like I was falling behind, I decided it couldn’t hurt to try starting with the introduction.  Before I finished it, I was in tears (because that’s just what I do when the Spirit moves in my heart and life) and fully convinced Ruth was where I needed to go.  When I finished it, I immediately wrote the first lesson, and my only trouble writing lessons since then has been having time to do it.  Had I wrote the introduction the first time I felt the little nudge to do so, I would probably be much further along.  But, I had to be stubborn.

First lesson:  God wants people who not only do things in His time but also in His way.  One without the other is still less than His will.

But, the lesson I needed even more:  God wants Christians who will listen for and obey all of His little nudges; Christians who will invite God to be a part of every aspect of their lives; Christians who won’t question when He nudges them to shake up their routine or do something seemingly insignificant.  There was a blessing waiting for me when and only when I obeyed, a blessing followed by more blessings, and there will be for you too.

Of course God wants us to turn to Him for direction when we have a major decision to make.  He wants us to turn to Him when our bank account is almost empty or our family is falling apart.  But, more than that, He wants to lead us moment by moment in the big and little things, in the good and bad times, and everything in-between.  That said, He won’t force His leadership upon us.  I’ve found He often leads by gently nudging.  It’s up to us whether we follow or stubbornly ignore and go our own way and thereby miss the blessings that were there waiting if only we had obeyed.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”  -Proverbs 3:4-5