New Blog by Rocky Light Shines Through the Darkness
If any of you are living under a dark cloud of grief or regret or fear for someone even yourself, I’m speaking to you from my heart to yours. You see, I’ve been under my own dark cloud that includes all those things, and even more. Did I bring it on myself? I don’t think so. I might have, but I don’t think so. Either way that cloud came over me and didn’t blow away or dissipate for a long time. I went to bed with it. I wrestled with it during the night, and I woke with it. That cloud drove me to my knees and kept me there, feeling that if I didn’t do this unknowable thing that I must do to get rid of that cloud of concerns, it would be with to my grave. Prayer is good. But it doesn’t end there. Often there is something God will require to have that prayer answered. I discovered this.
Do you ever get so introspective that you lose sight of what goes on around a drama in your life that still has some good in it? The cloud obscures the good from us, as it hovers over us blocking the light behind it. I asked one day, “Lord, will You not shine Your light on this issue I’m dealing with?” He responded,
“I am shining My light over it.”
Then I understood that I couldn’t see His light because the cloud blocked it. His light was behind that cloud. I just needed to see through it, if I could.
When I was going through a tough season of betrayal and job loss, evil was staring me in the face, and I was feeling that I needed to meet their evil with my own. Then a friend spoke truth to me by telling me that I need to look through those people and see Jesus behind them … that I should look through the good on the other side of it because my Sovereign God was with me and had a good plan for me. I did, and sure enough, God’s plan broke through to me and would become the beginning of Influencers. There was a dark cloud standing between the light and me, and all that had to be done was remove the cloud to see it. That’s where I’m going with this. I think God wants all His family to live in His light, and if God wants it, we should want it too. If He wants it, and we want it, then why not remove that cloud? Right? Now we’re back to the how question. How do we remove it? How did I remove it? I’ll give you a scripture and let you guess what I did. It’s pretty clear.
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” Psalm 100:4
In response to this scripture that I read on Thanksgiving Day, I took my eyes off the cloud of pain, hurt, fear and confusion, and by faith, pierced the cloud to see God’s light that was behind it. Thanksgiving and praise returned me to a perspective that I now still live with. He gave me hope that all would turn out fine one day and to trust Him.
How does a dark cloud of various challenges in your life play into a Christmas blog of hope and joy? Quite easily. It is because Jesus is the light that shines behind our dark clouds. The fact it is not that He is limited with His light of hope. Instead, there is an obscurity that must be removed to see His light of hope. I don’t think there is a better way for those of us who are under a dark cloud than by our reflection on God’s goodness to us during the Christmas season and what it means.
What is the Christmas message of hope? Before Jesus the Christ came to that manger in Bethlehem, the world lived in spiritual darkness. The first announcement of God’s Light that was about to be born came in the darkness of night when the angels declared that Jesus would be born. The “glory of the Lord shone around them,” for light overcomes darkness and it flees.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:8-14 ESV
The Christmas story is about hope. That night God sent us the hope we need and want. That hope is still with us. He is still shining to this day. He is shining in your life, even though you don’t see it right now. He is there, waiting for you to pierce the dark clouds over you with your praise and worship of Him, and even for the trials you may be going through. We do this by faith that He is there. We see Him when we, by faith, entrust to Him those things we fear and dread. He is sovereign over those things, and we can trust that He has a plan for us, and He’s got us. So, let your Christmas praise begin right now, and let it become a crescendo of joy that builds each day until the birthday of the Light and Hope for the world. Then you will see through that dark cloud.
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:4-5 ESV
Merry Christmas