18But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
19The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.
Proverbs 4:18–19
Let’s think about that first verse. In the Gospel of John Jesus said:
. . . “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
When a person turns his life over to Jesus, the Life he receives in return is like light in the darkness. The days of blindness and stumbling are gone. As they walk with Christ it’s like the light of dawn growing brighter and brighter. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. But often it isn’t.
It reminds me of Seasonal Affect Disorder. Psychologists tell us that it comes from a lack of sunshine and it is particularly common during the winter in northern climates where the days are short and overcast skies predominate. I have a family member who was emotionally overwhelmed by this disorder during a winter he spent in Germany a few years back. As the days grew short and the clouds moved in, his normally sunny disposition was replaced by a pretty severe depression. Seasonal Affect Disorder. In some northern European countries nearly one in ten people are seasonally debilitated by this condition year after year. They spend their winter depressed, despondent, moping round, barely coping with life.
Many Christians suffer from a sort of spiritual version of Seasonal Affect Disorder. They’re in the light, but they’re not walking closely enough to Jesus to be rejoicing, and they sort of drudge and drag their way through their lives as Christians.. . .as if walking with Christ was a heavy,
gloomy way to live. It ought not to be that way! First, for the benefit of the person himself, but also for those about them who form a very negative impression of what it means to be a Christian. They may conclude that living in the darkness may not be such a bad alternative.The problem does not lie in following Christ, but in how we go about it. We may be following Christ, but at such a great distance that we can barely see him up ahead of us. But Jesus paints a picture of walking close to Him as the source of life. And the closer we draw to Christ, the more of His life we absorb and the brighter the path becomes. Like our passage:
“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”
That’s the life we’re meant to have in Christ.
Now let’s look at the second half or our passage:
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know over what they stumble.
Years ago when I was a freshman at the University of Michigan I would occasionally see a blind student making his way around campus. Since he wore no glasses to conceal his eyes, it was apparent that he had been totally blind from birth. One day I happened to walk up to an intersection at the same time that he was ready to cross. He was delighted when offered to help him, so I took him by the arm and we started out. I grew a little embarrassed when I noticed that several other students were watching us. As a freshman I didn’t want to come over as a goody-goody boy scout helping a blind man, so when we were about one step away from the curb at our destination, I released his arm and said, “Well, there you are.” He immediately responded in panic crying out, “Where?! Where?!” The last step was perfectly obvious to me, but because I had been helping him, he had not been paying attention and counting steps, so he was totally lost.
The person without Christ is like that blind man. Sometimes he can make his way on a known path with reasonable confidence making it seem like he’s in good shape. But all the while he’s living on the edge—shuffling through life, always in danger of tripping over unseen obstacles or missing a step here or there. And there are times when they lose track like the blind man I was trying to help, and cry out, “Where?! Where?!” Their lives are in turmoil and they stumbling about in deep darkness. We all have friends and loved ones in that state, and with hearts of compassion we need to pray for them earnestly and not let go too soon as we help them across the dangerous intersection of life.
So how about you?
Is your life in Christ like a perpetual seasonal affect disorder of gloom and grayness or is it growing brighter and brighter as you walk more and more closely with the Savior?
Are you praying and reaching out to the friends and family you know who are still stumbling in the darkness?