“In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:” Twilight has always been a beautiful time of day. The colors of the sky that celebrate the closing of the day are breathtaking and beautiful. As we rotate away from the sun, the light wanes and darkness seemingly swallows up the light. The departure of light may be beautiful, but the absence of it can bring great fear. Steve Curington preached a message on this passage and related a truth I have never forgotten. Twilight is where there is 50% light and 50% darkness. Evening signals that light is near 25% and darkness is 75%. The black and dark night is the absence of light – 100% darkness.
God has shown us in His word over and over that the child of God will always be in a battle. It is right against wrong, good against evil; light versus the dark. This battle is fought on all levels. Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, we face adversity on any one of these levels every single day of our lives.
The young man of Proverbs 7 lost the battle personally because he allowed darkness to overtake the light. The declination to sin is a slow and seemingly undetectable path. But God, through Solomon here shows us that that way must be exposed for us to not succumb to its death grip.
Satan is so slick that he doesn’t really care how slow or how fast you move toward sin, just that your moving in such a way that there is less and less light, and more and more darkness. The enticement and temptation of sin will always be there as long as we are in this world and in this body. But who we follow, and more importantly, how much light is in us matters.
One of the redeeming truths about winter is that each day, we gain more minutes of light. The days become progressively longer and light lasts a bit more each day. Though it be a small thing, sometimes clinging to the slightest hope can sustain our soul.
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Each of us has felt the icy, cold fingers of darkness in our soul when light, the light of Christ, is overtaken by darkness. We become cold to truth; hard to correction, cynical to right living and right teaching till finally, the curtain is pulled back and it is revealed for what it truly is… Death.
Ephesians 5:8 says that we are light in the world. That light is the candle God lit in us when salvation made us alive in Jesus Christ. We are the keepers of that light. Satan is the avowed enemy of the light and will, at any cost, try to extinguish that light.
One of the greatest feelings in the world is to be clean on the inside – totally right with God! That darkness or sin that creeps in… Twilight, if you will, means that even though the outgoing of light can be beautiful, darkness is gaining strength to overtake it. But praise be to God, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from ALL sin! Light can be restored by humbly coming to the Savior to wash and cleanse us. Confession and repentance must always be first and foremost in the Christian’s daily regimen. Without it, darkness begins to win and light isn’t shining as bright.
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Lastly, the young man of Proverbs 7 knew not that it was for his life. Satan deceives us to think our small amount of darkness is OK because God hasn’t found out yet, or hasn’t judged us yet. That space between sin and correction is God’s wonderful, loving mercy and long suffering. Ask the Heavenly Father to make your heart and mine to be so sensitive to the presence of light in our lives that darkness, ANY darkness would be immediately felt, forgiven and forgotten. Embracing the light in our lives will ultimately make us haters of the darkness. Ask God for the wisdom to see the light in your life today and allow the light, the light of Christ to burn brightly for all to see!
