Exploring Manhood in ExodusSample

A Little Light Goes a Long Way

Picture this: It’s the middle of the night and you’re wakened by a tiny beeping sound. You glance at your nightstand clock, but you see nothing. There have been thunderstorms during the past several hours, and even though you’re a little groggy, you conclude that the electricity is out.

As you lie there, listening to that little electronic sound, you search your brain for what it might be. You get up to investigate.

Beginning your journey through your dark house, you don’t recall ever being surrounded by such blackness. Here you are, in the familiarity of your own home, sliding your feet forward a few inches at a time and groping with your hands for doorways and furniture. (An infrared videotape of this midnight walk would make for great YouTube comedy later on, don’t you think?)

Your heart is filled with a mix of fear and overwhelming lostness. Soon you discover that the sound is coming from the smoke alarm. It’s telling you that the power is out and the battery is low. I'd better get that changed in the morning, you think to yourself.

Turning around, you shuffle and grope your way back to bed.

Because of the pharaoh’s stubbornness, God visited his nation with ten terrible plagues. The ninth plague was darkness. For three full days, people trundled and groped around Egypt, trying to survive this awful experience.

What a graphic picture of what it would be like to live without God. In fact, it is a picture of our world—lost men and women, fearfully groping their way through life, hoping to touch safety while avoiding open stairwells. What can they do?

Perhaps the most amazing part of this story is this: God’s people—the families that honored Him—had light in their homes (see v. 23). If there was ever a powerful reminder in the Bible of what your home must be like in the middle of a dark world, it’s this one: you can live in a home where there is light. Invite lost people to visit. Show them the joy of living free from fear. Open your window shades and let the light from your house chase the darkness from your neighborhood.

And take this light with you today. It doesn’t take much of it to change everything.