Bible Study

Bible Study September 12, 2023

John 8:12 (ESV)

12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Darkness is something many people fear, the unknown is right up there. I remember visiting a young man who was incarcerated for drug addiction. I met him both in the jail where he was serving and also in a treatment facility to help addicts. The jail was a dismal place we talked via a telephone and even the room I was in was an unpleasant surrounding. Interesting though I will call the one young man Mike to keep his anonymity he told me he was reading his Bible on a daily basis.

If it was that way to me what was it like being there twenty-four hours a day? I also met a second young man who had a similar problem with addiction, two different men but the same problem. I imagine living in addiction is a dark experience. In a jail there is evil all around. I believe it would be difficult to find any element of peace in a facility like that.

The darkness remained for both of these men until a change came into their lives. Both sought treatment and one overcame it Mike did not. One passed away once freed from the confines of the treatment center. The second young man now married with a family is doing well. Darkness can be overcome and it takes only a small amount of light to overcome the darkest of situations.

R. Douglas Weaver, A Cloud of Witnesses wrote this: “Holy Scripture is witness to the light of God that arises in the midst of the deepest darkness to illumine the darkness. Scripture is not witness to the light taking away the darkness or exempting people from confronting the darkness in which they live. John Chrysostom in his sermon on Matthew 4 pointed out that the light springs up on its own accord. No amount of human seeking will summon the light of God’s presence into existence. The light dawns. It bursts forth when we are enveloped in darkness. God seeks us, comes to us, and breaks into our darkness as only God can. We cannot summon the sunrise. We can wait and allow the light to illumine our very being as it dawns.”

God Bless.