Friday, September
8, 2017
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Lift your hand toward
heaven, and the land of Egypt will be covered with a darkness so thick you can
feel it.” Exodus 10:21(NLT)
And later Isaiah
spoke boldly for God, saying, “I was found by people who were not looking for
me. I showed myself to those who were
not asking for me.” But regarding Israel, God said, “All day
long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.” Romans 10:20-21(NLT)
North
America was in the path of totality
last month. On August 21st the
moon got in the way of sunlight, and during the course of the day darkness
ruled the land. I slept through the whole
two minutes! Ok…OK…I know I’m a bit of a
curmudgeon; you might even call me a party pooper, but I was not going to spend
$17.95 plus shipping and handling on Amazon for glasses to see something I’ve
seen before. And by the way, there will
be another one passing over North Carolina on May 11, 2078[2]
- so what’s all the fuss about missing two minutes of darkness?
God told
Moses to bring about an eclipse in Egypt…darkness
so thick you can feel it.
And for those who have never been in the path of totality, there really
isn’t anything as surreal as a complete absence of light in the middle of the
day. I experienced that as a boy in Kentucky’s
Mammoth Cave. Mom and Dad took us to
that national park in the late 1950’s.
It’s a 60 year-old memory, but you don’t forget being 379 feet underground
in a 500 mile long cave[3]
and having the tour guide switch off the lights! That, I imagine, was what it was like for the
Egyptians when Moses lifted his hand; thick
darkness!
Now, all
that being said, the absence of physical light hasn’t scared me much since I
was an 11 year-old in that cave. Rather
it is the darkness of the soul lacking spiritual
light that evokes an alarm in me beyond description.
God spoke
through Isaiah to Israel, pointing-out that the Gentiles – people who were not
even seeking the true God – were going to be overwhelmed with the gift of
Heaven’s light, while Israel, the chosen family of Yahweh stumbled around in
darkness. Of course this scenario of
Abraham’s offspring making a mockery of God’s covenant begs a spiritual
parallel with the 21st century Christian church. In this modern age we claim to be enlightened
people, civilized, advanced and caring; we claim to be good.
What have
we to lay weight to that kind of claim?
Well, the list is impressive.
·
Aborting
children
·
Promiscuity
among heterosexuals and blatant denial of truth about homosexuality
·
Unparalleled
violence in the land
·
Greed
and corruption in business and government
·
War
unending
In short,
we are people who claim the goodness of light, yet stumble around in the
darkness, bumping into walls of sin and apostasy like the days of Noah. The darkness has taken over.
Main
conclusion: God has promised to never
destroy the earth by flood again…but He never excluded the judgment of fire
from above!
And…we are
ripe for it!
For You Today
But it’s
madness to ignore such a message!
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!
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