Walking through the dark season… (John 8:12) 300809
Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
I had really a good time at the 50th Anniversary dinner of the School of Theology English (SOTE) of Singapore Bible College (SBC) last evening. It was good because I had a chance to meet up with many good friends. It was good because I heard many testimonies of faithful servants of Jesus Christ, how they had served the Lord and His people for the past fifty years. It was good because I was able to face my giants when I met them at the dinner, and I knew that the Lord has led me out of the darkness into the light of life.
Jesus is the light of the world. He is not the light bulb of the world, but the light of the world. He does not need external source of energy to be lighted up, He is the light. In Him, there is no darkness. But we will not be fully in Him until we see Him face to face in the days of glory, that is when we go home to the Lord. While we are still in the world where there is still darkness. I must carefully qualify myself here: darkness is still in control over those who have yet to received Jesus, the light, into their lives, but for those who are already in Christ, they have the light of the world, Jesus, in them; though we may not be able to shine as brightly as Jesus, the light is there, in the heart of each and every one of us.
While we are obedience to Christ and faithfully following Him, people can see the light of Christ in us. The testimony of Rev Henry Khoo, one of the first few graduates from SOTE of SBC, clearly testifies this point. He was only a school teacher, because of his faithfulness of the call of God; he stepped into full-time ministry and went through the heavy wooden doors of prison and ministered there until he retired 2 years ago. His life and his ministry has been the light of the prison world. He walked with many convicts through their death sentence by implanting the light of the world in them, so that they can face their death with the assurance of Christ’s forgiveness. This man, Rev Henry Khoo, is a carrier of the light of the world, because he follows Jesus to the prison and visited those who are in prison, for he sees Jesus is working there too. I am surely touched and impressed by such a man of faithfulness in following Christ.
But there are times in our lives whereby we are being challenged by many trials and difficulties and God seems to be so far away and even absent; these are the darkness of life. This is even true to a Christian. I do not want to give Satan any credit of such situation in our lives, but to realize that God is always there even when we are going through the dark season of lives. Some call such season as winter, and some call it the night; to me they are the same, no matter what you call them. I believe you have such experience before: When you are struggling with some very important decisions to make, God does not seem to have given you any guidance; there are times when you family members and love ones around you fall sick or go through difficulties in their lives, one after another or altogether at once, and God does not seem acting fast enough to answer your prayers for them and has not given you enough comfort; and when yourself are suffering some incurable illnesses or some minor sicknesses, God’s healing doesn’t seem to work on you. You ask: God! Where are You? These moments and seasons seem so dim and dark to you.
I have gone through my dark season not too long ago, and God didn’t seem to be there when I need Him, but He was there. God did not answer my prayers, but He actually did, just that I was not listening and not willing to accept His answer as the answer. God seemed to have lost His power when I needed Him to heal and to work miracles, but God still heals. When there seems to be darkness in my world, Jesus is still there in a small corner room in my heart, lighting up that small little corner which I have allocated to Him; but the light of the world is still in me. The light never goes off, the light is waiting for a moment to light me up again, and He is not in hurry.
Jesus waited for me to be ready and rekindle me to be the light for Him once again. Today, I am glad that I am shining for Jesus again, not very bright, but shining. If there is once lesson I learn from my dark season of life, it is to be patience with God’s timing as He has been patience to my disobedience.
Are you going though some dark seasons in life too, now? Just remember that the light of the world is still in us for those who have already received Christ as Lord and Savior. If you have not, you can invite this light into your life and have confidence and assurance that the light of the world will be able to see you through your dark seasons.
Jesus is the light of the world, let us follow Him and live our life even we have to walk through darkness, as we are no longer in complete darkness within.
HHS…
Abel…
