Out For a Walk

I want to you to imagine the following scene…there you are, walking along a winding path. The path along a trail. The path marked out for your guidance and safety. Night has fallen and there is no moon. Starlight is not even visible due to the thick layer of clouds obscuring the night sky. It’s dark. I mean REALLY can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face dark!

This little jaunt wouldn’t be so bad but for the special features of this particular trail. This one is fraught with all kinds of “excitement” and danger on all sides. The path is filled with ankle-turning rocks. On one side of the path is a steep, thousand foot drop that ends in jagged, razor sharp rocks below. On the other side is a forest full of bears, coyotes, poison oak, snakes, and all other kinds of creepy-crawly things that are not friendly to your enjoyment of the outdoors.

Fun so far, right? Oh, another dilemma you face is a small, but very important detail…you left your flashlight and phone back at the campsite so you are without illumination or communication of any kind.

To walk along that path as though you had no care in the world, claiming to see clearly, would be nothing short of ridiculous. You could claim to see clearly but you would only be fooling yourself.

Now let’s apply this short journey of the imagination to our spiritual life. Our world is fraught with things that want to push us off the cliff, trip us up,  or tear us apart or poison us. We can claim that “everything is fine, just fine” but if we refuse to maintain a growing, responsive and obedient relationship with God, we are only fooling ourselves. God doesn’t call us to blind faith. He calls us to obedience.

He doesn’t want us to live our life in fear nor does He desire us to walk along as though there are no dangers about us. Our faith must be rooted and secured in the Solid Rock of Jesus Christ. We must have a steady diet of reading and studying His Word. The path we walk needs the light of God’s Word to show us the way. We, too, must allow the light of the Gospel to shine through us in this dark world. Darkness has no hold on nor power over light. Darkness can only take over when the light is removed.

May our walk with God shine the light of Jesus around us and light a path to Him for others. Let His light shine, and the darkness will yield!