HOW WISDOM LIGHTS OUR PATH (Proverbs 2:9-22)

One of the luxuries of being a seasoned citizen is that we can look back on the choices we have made in our lives and see how our decisions impacted our lives for the better, or the worse.  If you are like me, I have made my share of poor decisions, and a few really good ones.  The wisdom to choose right from wrong, good from evil, and truth from lies, is something that each of us desperately need in our lives.  The Bible describes this as choosing between light and darkness.

John 1:5
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
KJV

Notice what John says here about the light that shines in the darkness, he says, the darkness comprehended it not.  Now, other Bible translations render this phrase in various ways:  “the darkness has not overcome it,”  “has not put it out,” or “can never extinguish it.”

Whatever the exact words, the message is the same.  Jesus Christ stands as the unconquered Ruler of time and eternity, and all of history is a battle between light and darkness.  God’s kingdom is a kingdom of light, and Satan’s kingdom is a kingdom of darkness.  

But, and this is important for us to understand, don’t ever get the idea that the kingdom of darkness is somehow as strong as the kingdom of light.  Satan is a formidable foe, but the grand truth is that darkness is totally powerless against the light.  

Satan’s darkness is not the opposite of God’s light, but the absence of it.  A lost person’s heart does not know God’s light, because it is filled with nothing but darkness.  God’s light is absent from the lost person’s heart.  A believer’s heart has a light within it that no lost person can ever know.  A believer has the light of the Holy Spirit of God within them, and no amount of darkness can ever overcome that light.

Have you ever been in a room or place where the darkness is just so great that you can almost feel it? It oppresses you, it weighs down on you.  For example, have you ever walked in a cemetery on a dark moonless night and felt the darkness surround you?

We once took a tour of Fantastic Caverns in Missouri, and at one point in the tour, the guide shuts off the lights and you are surrounded by complete darkness.  They do this, because in a cave underground, you can learn what real darkness is.  Yet the simple light of a candle can dispel even the worst darkness, and no amount of darkness can overpower that candle.  Satan and his kingdom must bow before God and the majesty of His light.  When God’s light comes, Satan’s darkness must go.  

It also means that there is only one way to get rid of Satan’s darkness; the light of the Word of God.  We have victory in Jesus because no force on the earth, or below the earth, can stand against the mighty majesty of God’s light.  When our lives are filled with sin, it is the light of the Word of God that will give you victory over that sin in your life.  In fact, it is the only light that will give you victory over Satan and sin.  You cannot live the Christian life without the power and light of the Holy Spirit in your heart. The concepts of God’s wisdom and God’s light are intertwined.  They are both based on the Word of God, and they both come from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.  But, most importantly, they enable us to determine right from wrong, good from evil, and truth from lies.

Click on the link below to hear a message about how God’s wisdom, God’s light, can deliver us from evil.  For it is when we acquire wisdom, that we will have light in darkness.

Amen.