The Light Against the Night

Hello All,

I pray for God’s Light to shine into hearts of those who are still blinded by the darkness.

 For those of us who are in the Light, may God prompt us to share His Light to the world.

The Light Against the Night

By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling (19^th March 2013)

Dedicated to Yeinnee Phang in appreciation for the contribution of her picture which so clearly illustrates the message of this poem

Groping helplessly in sin's darkest night

Unable to tell my left from my right

Then Christ came with righteousness as his light

Saved me and turned my blindness into sight

Before the Light, sombre clouds loomed

Carrying with it sin's sorrows and gloom

Hope, peace and salvation could find no room

In sin's punishment of eternal doom

From Satan’s realm Jesus has redeemed me

He bore my sins and nailed them to the tree

I’m now free from the yoke of slavery

I’m a child of God for eternity

Points for Reflection:

He [God the Father] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

·          ‘I am afraid of the dark’, ‘Don’t leave me alone in the dark’, ‘Don’t go to dark places’, ‘My world is surrounded by darkness’, ‘These are dark times’…  Those are common statements and phrases pertaining to darkness which you would have heard of. The word, darkness, carries a variety of meaning, such as the absence or deficiency of light, wickedness, evil, obscurity, concealment, lack of knowledge or enlightenment.

·         But how does the Bible define darkness? The domain of darkness is the realm of Satan where all sinful human beings without Christ are trapped in. It is a common notion to categorize people as good and bad based on their moral conduct, integrity and contribution to society. But the fact is all men are in the domain of darkness and are unable to justify themselves based on their good works.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

·         Take some time to think about the people in your life who are still the domain of darkness. Have you been praying and looking for opportunities to share the gospel with them?   

·         Only Jesus is able to redeem us from the darkness of Satan’s rule into his Kingdom of Light. He bore our sins on the cross and became our substitute so that those who believe in him will be saved from eternal judgment in hell. In him we have the hope of eternal life.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

I [Jesus] have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (John 12:46)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:4-5)

·         Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Saviour? Or are you merely intrigued by the good news but prefer to remain neutral? The truth is there is no sitting on the fence but you are either in the domain of darkness or in the Kingdom of Light. Jesus is the only One who is able to deliver you from Satan’s realm and he is extending his hand of love and mercy to you. Will you take his hand and let him lead you into his Kingdom?

·         If you consider yourself a Christian, are you living as a child of the Light? Have you truly submitted your life to the loving leadership of Christ? Or are you rejecting God’s rule in your life and stubbornly persisting in certain sinful habits? It is true that we do sin from time to time and we are far from perfect. God is merciful and gives us provision to confess our sins to him and ask for his forgiveness. But that does not mean that we are free to indulge in sin and then say a prayer of confession. If you are truly a child of God, the Holy Spirit should be constantly convicting you of sin and enabling you to change to become more like Christ each day.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1:5-6)

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, (1 John 2:3-4)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)