Drawn to the Light
5/19/2021
Written By: Margie Davis
For many years, I served as a youth leader. I had to do many things outside of my comfort zone. I blobbed, zip-lined, wall climbed and I’ve been dropped from the top of a telephone pole in a harness. I have been physically covered in mud, refried beans, buttermilk, chocolate syrup, water then flour, duct tape and chewed up bubble gum. I have been a referee, a surrogate mom, a nurse and a psychiatrist. I have hidden in trees, run un-winnable races, been a human foosball and played “dead” while a group of pre-teens carried me to “safety.” I loved it all. Mostly.
But the scariest obstacle I ever faced was an old, very crude maze. No ordinary maze, at just 2.5 feet tall, this maze was built directly on the dirt ground out of old, rotting wood. And oh yeah…it was completely ENCLOSED!!! The KIDS would go through the maze in groups of about 6-8. They would select someone to lead and then everyone fell in behind that person. They would be on their hands and knees with their hands gripping the ankles of the person in front of them. When they took a wrong turn, they had to back up as a group and try again, because there was no room to simply turn around.
The youth leaders encouraged them as they entered the maze and then ran to the other end to cheer for them as they exited. EXCEPT, an 8th grader that I loved like I had given birth to her said to me “I’m scared to go, but I want to do this so much. Will you go with me?” I’m not claustrophobic, so I said “sure”! As our group waited for our turn, I started hearing the stories from the other youth leaders about why THEY would never go in there! Rats, snakes, spiders, etc. Uh oh. I was committed. I was not letting my girl down! I had to show NO FEAR!
As we entered the maze, I was immediately hit with heavy, damp HOT air! It was SO dark in there. Three feet into the maze I realized that my eyes were really having a hard time adjusting. I was completely plunged into the deepest darkness I had ever experienced. I became so disoriented and I started to sweat profusely. My knees were raw and my shirt kept snagging on nails that were hanging down from the roof of this crudely built box. The heat was unbelievable. But we just kept moving along in darkness.
Fighting the panic inside me became all I could focus on. I felt myself trying to get used to the darkness so that I wasn’t as anxious about it. Somehow my mind helped my eyes adjust to being in that darkness and I calmed down a bit. I still didn’t like it, but I was becoming more used to the darkness and I was able to push thoughts of snakes and rats crawling in there with me aside and just keep moving.
And then the tiniest glimpse of light ahead. The exit!!! When we got to the light, at first it hurt my eyes. I had only been in that maze a short time, but already my eyes had adjusted to the darkness. As we crawled out into full sunlight I could see the damage that had been done to me in the darkness. The scrapes, the cobwebs in my hair and the mud! So much mud! I looked a mess!
And that’s the thing with darkness. You don’t even know how damaged you’re getting because it’s so dark. And you’re adjusting to the darkness as you crawl in deeper and deeper.
1 John 1:5-6 says “…God is Light and in Him there is not darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
The evil one is making every corner of our world darker and darker every day. And I think our spiritual eyes are adjusting to that darkness. How do we know if we’re believing the darkness instead of the light? It’s so simple. Does what we’re hearing and accepting as truth line up with what God tells us in His word? What does the Bible say about lying, getting drunk, sex outside of biblical marriage, aborting babies, being disrespectful, being lazy, constant worry, etc., etc., etc. That’s our absolute truth as Christians. It’s totally lit up for us. There are no “grey” areas. Grey only means that some darkness has been added. And darkness is NOT where Jesus is.
Colossians 1:12-13 says “…and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.”
We are qualified for the kingdom of light because we have been RESCUED from the darkness. I want to encourage you today to seek your truth from the Word of God. Not from people. People change how they think and what they believe almost daily in our world. God’s word remains the same. It always has been and it always will be your Truth and Light. Come on out of the darkness! It’s beautiful in the Light.