The God of Light

D.L. Moody once said, "In the valley of the shadow of death there must be a light, 

otherwise there could not be a shadow."  

   
     After a holiday in South Africa, some years ago, my husband Peter and I began the flight home together from Johannesburg, but due to an airline mix-up, we were separated in Mauritius.  He was off-loaded and obliged to stay in Port Louis for a week until the next available flight to Australia.  It was a frustrating time for him as he had no ready cash and was obliged to put up in a very shabby hotel.  Out of sheer boredom, he caught the local bus every day and rode around the island.  His only other occupation was to read James A. Mitchener's lengthy novel Centennial, two and a half times. 
     Mid-week, Mauritius was hit by a cyclone.  The palm trees along the centre of the capital city's streets were flattened, broken off at their base by the terrific winds which battered the island. Peter was lying on the bed in his dingy bedroom reading Centennial when the storm struck and without warning, the lights and air-con went off.  As the room had no windows, it was terrifyingly dark and the oppressive heat quickly became claustrophobic.  Taken together with the noise of unseen destruction, Peter felt panic rising.  
     Feeling his way to the bathroom, he stood on the toilet seat and began wenching off the pieces of wood nailing the single window shut.  With difficulty, he finally managed to lever up one corner and putting his nose to the crack, he gulped in great drafts of cold air.  Just then, there was a knock on the door and Peter opened to a waiter, holding out a candle for him.  One little candle, but it cancelled the fear and sense of isolation, though the storm never abated for hours. 
     If God is light, as the Apostle John says (1 John1:5), then hell, one concludes, must be a place of darkness, because God is not there. There seems to be so much darkness in today's world, with morality so often bypassed in favour of expediency, personal pleasure or profit.  In this regard, I am struck by the words of Doreen Leighton, who wrote: 
               God is not deterred by the darkness of the human heart for without faith,
              every heart is dark.  God does not wait until we are perfect before using us.
              He looks only for signs of faith.  (Christian Woman, September 1983)
There is much comfort in those words.  It is the entrance of God's Word that brings light (Ps 119:130).