Years ago when I was in Ohio working in IT for a bank, I was in the habit of running out to the car to go to work. One dark morning when I ran to the car, it seemed like something tackled me! Boom! What a surprise! As it turned out, the previous evening we had moved a heavy picnic table to the side yard to eat outside. It was not usually in that location. Yes, that morning I had forgotten where we left the table the previous evening. Thankfully, I didn’t hit it head on, but grazed the end enough to be knocked to the side.
There are many verses in the Bible about light and darkness and stumbling. I John 1:5-7 states “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Getting closer to the God, who is light, is only possible through the cleansing blood of Christ. When we pretend we walk with Him while not dealing with the sin issue, we are actually walking in darkness apart from the truth.
I John 2:9-11 gives a case in point: “He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” The previous verse referred to a new command from Jesus to love one another (II John 5). Sin blinds, but God gives light as we confess and turn from our sin to walk in His commandments.
God gives us His Word to show us our sin and the way to confess and forsake it. II Peter 1:2-4 underscores how we become partakers of the divine nature through God’s exceedingly great and precious promises: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
Do you have a strategy for being in God’s Word on a regular basis this new year? We so need His Word which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). May we each make our time with the Lord reading, studying, and memorizing an even greater priority this year, and as a result, watch Him light our path and keep us from stumbling.
“How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:9-11)