How do you tell the good guy from the bad guy? Well of course, the good guy wears white and the bad guy wears black. Oh, I know, the Lone Ranger had a black mask, but his hat was white!

We understand (and the Bible validates this point) that light equates to goodness and purity, while darkness is associated with evil. You don’t have to go any further than the third verse of Genesis to see that one of the first things God created was—light. He had created the heavens and the earth, but darkness was “over the surface of the deep.”

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good. Genesis 1:3

The light shows us our way in the darkness. Sometimes I turn off the light, eye my way to the bedroom door, and think I’m going in the right direction with the right amount of steps only to reach out my hand and touch a wall instead of the door frame. We really need the light. Similarly, we need God’s Word to give us direction.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

We think of sin as darkness. We think of our wandering, aimless  lives as darkness. We think of depression as darkness. Or indecision as darkness. When we’re stumped or lacking in some way, it feels dark. BUT…

You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. Psalm 18:28-29                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

In other words, we can do great feats when we’re filled with His light.

While writing my first book, Ears to Hear, I experienced a down time, writer’s block, you might say. No, more than that; I just didn’t feel that light of His Spirit that had first called me to this task. Hard work had settled in. Where was that fervor I once sensed?

One morning, with head still on the pillow, I began to pray, calling out to the Father for a sense of His presence. After a period of intense prayer, I rolled my head over toward the window. A sunbeam hit me in the face. I closed my eyes basking in its warmth.

Then I realized the blinds were closed! Somehow the sun had  come through a little hole where the string went through the slat. The sun was perfectly aligned  to shine through that tiny opening on my face. I closed my eyes again and smiled in the sunshine of His love, praising Him for this awareness of His presence. I rolled my head back the other way, filled with more vibrant prayer time, thanking Him for His encouragement and the awareness that He was with me.

When I looked back at the window, the sunbeam was gone. That was okay. It had shone through at just the right time. It was all the light I needed.

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees. Psalm 119:130,135                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

May you find Him—find the light of His love in simple ways today as you seek His presence.

 ~ Joyce ~

~On a personal note: If you are in an area to receive Christian radio station WFIA (AM900), I will be interviewed this Monday by daily radio host, Joyce Oglesby. The interview, Aug. 3 at 3:00 pm, will be about my book, A Heart for Truth.