At the start of our ministry, I soon realised that I would have to get up early in the morning to write. During the day, there are usually just too many things on my plate that need to be moved around if I want to spend quiet time with the Lord. 

The problem is that I just couldn’t wake up. My warm bed was much nicer than sitting in a cold study behind cold screens. I then got reinforcements and asked God to wake me up. 

And indeed, it worked! Soon I realised that I had made a mistake by not adding a time for waking up. Now I’m wide awake from 03:00 onwards, so I just get up. 

I don’t turn on the light because then my bedmate wakes up and is not happy with me. But time and time again I bump my toe against something that has moved for no reason since I went to sleep. 

My friend from Pretoria came to visit, the one who likes technology. He helped me out of my predicament and bought me a decent lamp/flashlight. It responds to motion and as I swing my feet off the bed, it turns on. 

All of a sudden, I noticed everything, even the shoe that had crept unnoticed into the way I go during the night. The corner of the skirting by the door also now became very visible. 

The little flashlight makes a big difference and has already saved me from a lot of pain and hurt. I just wonder why I didn’t acquire such a device for myself much earlier? 

Even though the sun is shining in the world, many have not yet invited Jesus, the Light of life, into their lives. 

God and Jesus are the Light of the world. Light in the Bible represents purity, truth, knowledge, prosperity and happiness. Darkness represents just the opposite. It’s in the darkness where people run into each other, fall over things and get hurt a lot. 

5… God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. 

If we’re stuck in darkness, if we lack wisdom for the way forward, if luck has disappeared from our lives, if prosperity keeps passing us by, we must turn on the Light in the world. We must turn to God so that His light can shine in our lives. 

With God, there is no darkness. As I swing my leg out of bed, the bedside lamp illuminates my path, making it easy to see where I can safely step. The darkness is simply chased away and immediately disappears. 

When God shows up, darkness also disappears. Darkness simply cannot exist when God shows up with His light. And then purity, truth, knowledge, prosperity and happiness also appear. 

It’s so simple and yet, suddenly we find again that we’re floundering around in the dark. That is precisely when we must rise and return to God’s Light. It’s that simple. We just have to do it. 

Scripture
1 John 1:5-10 

Reflection
Where are you fumbling around in the dark?
Do you believe that God is the Light?
What should you do to turn on God’s light in your life? 

Prayer
Father, I need Your light so much. Help me where I’m floundering in the dark. Amen.