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Monday, February 21, 2011

Fatality of Darkness

The Bible calls God "Light," and we often consider it a metaphor without taking into account the fatality of darkness.

Without physical light, photosynthesis would not occur, plants would not grow, and we would starve.

Light is an necessity for us to function in life for any length of time. (Visually-impaired people who see no light rely on people with sight to perform many vital tasks, as I've observed during a lifetime of personal experience.)

When the Lord sent ten progressively worse plagues upon Egypt (Exodus 7-12), the second worst plague of utter darkness, which immobilized the Egyptians, was exceeded only by death.



by Norbert McNulty
Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting,
and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle ...
the cloud by day, and fire was over it by night,
in the sight of all the house of Israel.
~ Exodus 40:34,38


God provided their necessities to the children of Israel during forty years in the desert: water, bread, meat, clothing, and light. The light provided in pillar of cloud and pillar of fire not only guided them on their way, but assured them of God's presence and continued provision—exactly as He does for us today.


More on the Necessity of Light is planned for Wednesday.

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Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved
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10 comments:

  1. Wonderful. I need the light of God's word. If it weren't for that, the world would have dimmed a long time ago. Can you imagine a world with no word of God at our fingertips? People do live that way and it breaks my heart.

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  2. One of the taglines I'd come up with for my writing is Writing the World in a New Light and of course that Light is entirely symbolic of every good gift God has bestowed upon me.

    ~ Wendy

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  3. I've been following a scripture trail of "Light" and then I see this...I love how GOD reveals Truth again and again...

    Also, beautiful visual by Norbert McNulty!

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  4. ahhh. couldn't stop with just the scripture for the link. it said the darkness could also be felt. and i didn't know that every egyptian home had death in it too. it was a great refresher and different things stuck out about it. my thoughts are straying. looking forward to Wednesday...

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  5. Anne, the darkness may be the plague that most intrigues me. There's a sense in the text's description that the darkness was palpable. No ordinary darkness, but something one could feel, to which one's eye's did not adjust, and was thick inky black that completely oppressed them. (And it's always felt a little something like the Dark Island in the Dawn Treader, unable to escape the nightmare...)

    And there, at the border with Goshen, it was light. Normal, sunny, bright light. I try to imagine what it looked like right there where Goshen began. The dark stopped. Was it like a wall? Could one stand with a foot in the light and a foot in the dark?

    Fascinating, anyway, with such enormous implications for us beyond the physical light/dark of the plague.

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  6. Tana ~

    You're right about people living without God's Word breaking my heart. It makes me treasure my Bibles all the more!

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  7. Wendy ~

    I'm increasingly fascinated by the physical properties of light, of which I confess I'm mostly ignorant. (Not enough of high school science stuck I guess.) Because I see such a strong connection between the physical and the spiritual (more on that Friday), I would love to study light in more depth. In my spare moments, of course. : /

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  8. Connie ~

    I think the Lord's got me on that same spiritual trail. I love when He does this! And yes, I love that artwork and look at the one above my desk often.

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  9. Bud ~

    Well, actually Tuesday's post is also connected. I think there's still a few posts in me on Light, and I'm praying the Lord will help me keep things varied enough to stay interesting.

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  10. Lyla ~

    I suspect the affect of S.A.D.D. that I've experienced may have more to do with the soul than with the body. As much as I'd like to do more research on this, right now I'm simply staying in the Word and praying. Praying for insight, praying for Light, and praying to be a vessel of light. I hope you catch the other posts on Light this week. Your words about light have stuck with me.

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