BUT THERE WAS LIGHT IN GOSHEN

 

        Have you ever experienced darkness so dense that you could see nothing at all, not even your hand in front of your face? That kind of darkness brings a halt to any activity and a fear that can only be removed when light enters in. I have heard of some caves that are so deep and dark that if you don’t have a guide and a light, you could easily fall into a deep chasm and lose your life. My husband and I went on a guided tour of a cave that was much less dangerous than that, but still if it hadn’t been for our guide and the lights, we would have been lost.

Life sometimes presents us with circumstances that seem to leave us in a dark place with no sense of direction of how we can get out. In the book of Exodus, we read the story of the Israelites who were stuck and had no way out of their situation. Most of us know the story of God’s people being enslaved in Egypt and how God sent Moses to deliver them out of slavery to a land of freedom He was giving them. Their nemesis was Pharaoh, the powerful king of Egypt, who was determined not to allow these people to leave their homes in Goshen no matter what consequences it brought on himself and his people. Pharaoh was determined to stand strong and prove he was in control, so he repeatedly rebelled against God.

 God brought ten plagues on Egypt. Before each of these plagues, Pharaoh was warned of what was to come if he did not obey God. Yet he refused to follow God’s command. The telling signs that these things were happening by God’s intervention and not some human force were the facts that God had Moses announce each one before it happened and most of them only affected the Egyptians and not God’s people just a short distance away. There was no way a mere human could arrange these catastrophes. There were ten plagues in all: water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, pestilence among their livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the death of the firstborn. But I want us to focus in on the plague of darkness.

 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

Notice there was light in Goshen where God’s people lived. Those who followed God did not experience this darkness. They had light. The Egyptians not only experienced darkness, but they were totally disabled by it. They couldn’t even see one another in their own homes. It was that eerie type of darkness you can feel. They couldn’t go about their everyday business because they couldn’t see. They were blinded with thick darkness.

Let’s look at this same scenario on a spiritual level. The nemesis of humankind is Satan. He is determined to keep us all in darkness and to disable us from seeing the light of Jesus Christ that can bring us into Truth and freedom. He wants to be in control.

But Jesus was sent to deliver us from slavery to Satan and to bring us into a land of freedom which is His kingdom. Jesus warns us of the dangers if we continue walking in darkness. And He gives us the choice to walk in the light. However, Satan tries his best to keep us in darkness. That is the only way he can keep us under his control. This darkness disables us from walking in freedom. It causes us to be blind to the way of Truth.

Darkness and Light are total opposites. They cannot coincide. But how can you separate light and darkness? And how could there have been total, dense darkness, darkness that can be felt, in Egypt and yet there be light in Goshen? Goshen was part of Egypt. Only God can do that. After all, He separated light and darkness in the beginning. We read in Genesis 1:1-5 how God separated the light from darkness.

God also separates the darkness and the light spiritually. The light of God is there for everyone who wants to be part of the light. But we cannot be part of the light and part of the darkness at the same time. When light comes, darkness has to flee. Second Corinthians 6:14 asks this question. “and what fellowship can light have with darkness?” There is no way there can be an alliance between what is evil and what is good. When we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, we are no longer part of the darkness.

In Matthew 4:16 Jesus quoted an Old Testament passage that was prophetic of His coming to restore light in the world. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.” So, who can walk in light? Everyone who is surrendered to Jesus Christ. “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)  Psalm 18:28 says, “For you will light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”

 Since Jesus is the Light, that is where I want to be. If God has separated the light from darkness, we should, too. Does that mean we live in little Christian communes away from the world? Absolutely not! Jesus prayed to the Father, not to take us out of this world, but to keep us from the evil, the darkness of this world. The only way those in this world can see light is through those of us who have the light of Jesus in us. But if we partake of the darkness of this world, we lose our light.

If we truly want to belong to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of light, we will choose to establish our lives on the Word of God. Then we will have spiritual light to understand those things that we never understood before. Suddenly the Bible becomes clear. It makes perfect sense, just like when you turn on a light in a dark room. Everything changes. Suddenly you can see clearly what is there. You see the arrangement of the furniture in the room and you can move through the room without running into something and getting hurt. Jesus said, “If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

When we purpose to live our lives in the light according to Jesus’ teachings, we will find that He enlightens us. When we read the Bible and take it as our guide for life, we will receive understanding and wisdom to lead us through the pitfalls and obstacles of life. We don’t have to stumble through a dark world because we have His light in us. If we allow the Word of God to be our guide, we will have light and life more abundantly. We don’t have to be ruled by habits, sin, past failures or any other thing that will bring us down. Darkness no longer has dominion over us. But we need to keep our lights burning bright and not neglect them.

One of the light bulbs went out in the room where I was. It was noticeably dimmer than it had been before. But since it was up on the ceiling, I left it like it was until I could get help. I had a hard time seeing without that bulb at first, but after a few minutes my eyes adjusted, and I didn’t even notice the poor lighting. It did not take long to accept a lesser quality than I had before.

            As darkness settles over the earth, it’s easy to shift gears and compromise rather than retain the light in our souls. Others’ rejection of Christ, humanism, and trying to be politically correct can turn us from the true Light, Jesus Christ. If the light dims in our soul a little at a time, we won’t notice as much. That happens when we compromise a little here and a little there. Then we find ourselves apart from God and groping in darkness like everybody else. Beware of letting your light go out. Make sure you keep your light burning brightly by staying in fellowship with Jesus.   Jesus said those who hear His teachings and have a teachable heart, those who love the truth and walk in the light of the truth they have been given, will receive more truth, more light. But those who do not have a teachable heart and who do not practice what they hear in the light of Jesus’ words will lose what they heard. The choice is ours. We can walk in the brilliant light of Jesus Christ where His light will plainly show us the truth and lead us into more and more of His Truth, or we can walk in darkness.

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth).”