In the Light

What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.  -Matthew 10:27

This verse explains why I haven't written a post in a long time.

Whenever I got really excited about scripture, devotions, or church sermons, I blogged about it immediately. I don't do that anymore.

When I blogged about something new I learned, I didn't allow myself to completely soak in God's word.

Example time. I will not get ridiculously buff immediately after working out. If I have proper nutrition and let my body take in the impact of the exercises, then results show. It's because my body is reflecting the work I've done for it.

The same applies to God's word. If you really want to let scripture, sermons, and devotions really impact you, you have to be patient and let God's word nourish you.

And if God tells you something "in the dark", that means that he's talking to you in your darkness. What is your darkness? Maybe it's a secret that no one may know. Maybe it's a secret addiction. Or is it a sin that you're completely unaware of? Either way, when God talks to you in your darkness, you realize how dark it is compared to his light.

In order for God's light to penetrate into the layers of your deepest, darkest secrets, you have to give it time. Your dark secrets are like buried treasure that God has to dig up and reveal. He knows that you're sensitive and so he wouldn't just burrow into the dirt without thinking. He "whispers" to you in the darkness, implying that God is very very gentle at addressing your wound. If we're using the same analogy, God uses a feather to lightly sweep off the layers of dirt that covers your treasure. He knows that a shovel would be a lot faster and efficient, but it's disregarding your feelings and emotions. Brushing off the dirt that covers the treasure takes time. A lot of time.

Yet as soon as God finds the tip of your buried secret, he exposes some light into that dark wound. Remember, God is using a feather to dust off layers of dirt to find your treasure chest. Even when he finds it, he still has to dust off the dirt that surrounds it. So it's going to take a while for all of the treasure chest to be completely exposed to the light.

Slowly yet surely, God brushes off the dirt that covered your treasure from the light. But very very slowly. He knows that too much exposure to light when it's not ready can cause the treasure chest to react harshly. But when he opens up the chest and reveals your darkness, the darkness cannot stand against his Light and it disappears.

These past weeks, I've been unable to blog. It was weird because I thought that God was teaching me a lot. Why was it hard to write it down? It's because his messages needed time to sink in and work in me so that I would have a greater understanding of how his words are healing me.

Although I'm not completely healed, God has dusted off enough dirt for me to see some of his light. I'll take it. It's a lot more than what I deserve. With this light, I will proclaim it to the housetops and share his good news.