Trapped in the Darkness
by Fred Alberti
"…to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me."
Acts 26:18
As I was walking through my nature trail this week I, as I normally do, asked the Lord what I should write this week. As I passed through the chapel area of the trail the sun flashed through the leaves and caught my attention. Light. I had entered the darkness of the woods but that light caught my attention. I "filed" it away and continued my travels through the trail.
Later, I was reading through various news stories of earthquake survivors in China when one particular story jumped out at me and brought back to my mind my earlier encounter with the rising sun. The story was of a middle-aged man named Mr. Shen whose quick thinking to take cover in a doorway saved him from the fate experienced by many of his co-workers.
When interviewed, Mr. Shen recalled shouting to a co-worker to join him in the doorway when the room suddenly collapsed. The next thing he remembered was the sudden darkness that enveloped him.
What struck me in his interview was his statement, "Oh, the darkness, oh, the darkness all over. I didn't know when it was going to end."
There are people that we walk past every day that, without knowing it, are spiritually in the same condition as Mr. Shen; trapped in darkness under the weight of sin.
For Mr. Shen, the darkness crumpled under the hands of the rescuers. After 146 hours his encounter with complete and utter darkness came to an end. That darkness, however, will always leave a mark on his being.
Will you forget the darkness that seeks to crush the hope of those around you?
Intersecting Faith & Life: Find a place of complete and utter darkness and spend at least 15 minutes praying for people you know who have not accepted God's free gift of salvation.
Further Reading:
Ephesians 5:8
John 12:46
1 Peter 2:9
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