How to tackle the darkness within us
There are times in life when it feels like there is a thick dark cloud over us. Times when it seems like nothing is going according to plan.
In last week’s post, I shared a story of one of my recent experiences and how easy it would have been to be discouraged and to accept the rhetoric that I am unlucky.
You see, in the past, when I experienced problems, I would first go down the well of discouragement before finding the light of God’s mercy.
But this time around, mercy said no!
God did not allow me to get thrown into this proverbial well. He held me right on the cuff of my shirt and pulled me away from the familiar edge.
It was God’s word that saved me.
Perhaps, you can relate to our tendency to focus on the problems we are facing. Our proclivity is to see the bad first before any possible good. And this hardly ever ends well.
I have some news for you: Sis, it is time to ‘Arise and shine…’.
Here are God’s eternal words to us:
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.”
Isaiah 60:1
“The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.”
Isaiah 60:19
These were God’s words to the new Jerusalem, and I believe it is His words to us – the children of Abraham.
I will take each verse in turn.
Living in the light of God’s word
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.”
Sis, what has you bent over in pain? What circumstances have you cowering in shame? Perhaps, you feel like your story is so bad, that your circumstances are so unique that there can be no way out of it.
That is just not true.
This is just the drivel the devil has been spouting for years to stop God’s children from living in the fullness of their purpose and destiny.
We allow fear to keep us in the dark, we believe that hiding will keep us safe and comfortable.
Yet again…this is not how we have been called to live.
God calls us to do two things in this scripture.
Firstly, we must arise, and then we shine.
The Bible dictionary defines arise as “to ascend, mount up or move to a higher place…to emerge from below the horizon.”
Another says to “begin to spring up to originate.” “To begin to act to exert power to move from a state of inaction.”
These are all powerful definitions and point to one obvious fact – action. To arise we must get up in the spiritual and physical sense. We must lift our eyes and position ourselves where God wants us. You must first arise before you can shine.
Remember what Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount:
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16
A city set on a hill has been positioned there for a reason. It has been positioned to be seen, to be a light and to shine. So, we too have been placed on Earth to shine in this dark, dark world. Yet, we often allow the world’s darkness envelops us.
There are different reasons for this. I have highlighted two below, I will discuss the first one in this post and the second in Part 2.
Why we struggle to shine:
- We think our ability to shine is up to us.
- The world we live in is more real to us than God’s word.
When we think our ability to shine is up to us
During the first few years of my Christian walk; I noticed a steady decline in my zeal and commitment to the Lord. I couldn’t understand it then but looking back, I realised that I struggled in that season as I had started to believe that ‘it was up to me to be good.’
I had this erroneous thinking that I had to toil to do the right thing, and of course, I always fell short.
I experienced this when I committed to being a virgin until marriage. An important pledge, but I tried to do this in my strength, and I ultimately failed. I share more about my story here.
Have you struggled with the tendency to do the right thing in your own strength?
Please stop.
God didn’t call us to this life alone.
He expressly promised never to leave nor forsake us. He promised us his Spirit to be our counsellor, our helper, and our friend.
Permit me to repeat this –
We have unreserved access to the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of the Lord that reveals God’s will and guides us into all truth.
More so, it is God’s light we are called to shine. We are mere reflectors of heaven’s light.
Please do not downplay this powerful privilege.
It is the very thing that can determine the quality of our lives. Our lives are not lived by what we go through but by how we react to what we experience.
I will discuss the next point in Part 2 of this post.
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