10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys his servant?
If you are walking in darkness,
without a ray of light,
trust in the Lord
and rely on your God.
11 But watch out, you who live in your own light
and warm yourselves by your own fires.
This is the reward you will receive from me:
You will soon fall down in great torment.
"There are ways to shave the radical edge off of Christian obedience. People light their own fires, to use Isaiah's metaphor. They have their own ideas to live by. Why listen to Christ when there are plausible, and certainly easier, ways to live? Some people sit through sermons, but are they listening? Their lives are not set apart from the convenient, soft ways of the world. Why? They don't feel in their hearts that Christ can be counted on when it matters. They are making their own way." ~ Ray Ortlund, Jr.
Walking in the light of Christ sometimes will mean walking in dark days where the light is limited and the clouds overcast.
Some choose to expedite the process and step out of the darkness of following a God who is always infinite steps ahead of us and into the light of worldly solutions and methods of dealing with darkness.
To follow Christ is to follow even when it is dark.
The soft world around encourages us to abandon the narrow path that goes through gloom for the enlightened, broad road that offers alternative forms of light.
God's response to this kind of medicine is clear: He hates it!
He hates band-aids that keep a wound from fully healing by offering fleeting respite from the pain of real healing.
Read again God's powerful plea through His prophet:
Isaiah 50:10-11
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys his servant?
If you are walking in darkness,
without a ray of light,
trust in the Lord
and rely on your God.
11 But watch out, you who live in your own light
and warm yourselves by your own fires.
This is the reward you will receive from me:
You will soon fall down in great torment.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys his servant?
If you are walking in darkness,
without a ray of light,
trust in the Lord
and rely on your God.
11 But watch out, you who live in your own light
and warm yourselves by your own fires.
This is the reward you will receive from me:
You will soon fall down in great torment.
It doesn't mean you're not a legitimate Christian if you experience some dark days or confusion and pain and suffering.
It is, in fact, evidence of your legitimacy.
It is OK to have dark days.
Don't allow the Devil to convince you otherwise.
But don't listen to the Devil and fire up light-hearted nonsense in an attempt to make your own light to endure the God-ordained darkness of the narrow path that leads to where He is.
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