Light To See By 02

"Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

Genesis 1:2

Where there is darkness, there is waste and void (emptiness). As long as darkness was upon the earth (its face or deep), the earth could not develop properly; could not reach its potential.

The plant showered with sunlight, in a proper interplay of night and day, will benefit greatly over a plant isolated and never seeing the light of day. Plants that must have sunshine to survive will certainly die if exposed to permanent darkness.

A child raised in a hopelessly hostile and abusive environment retards physically, emotionally, psychologically and is not nurtured in such a way conducive to producing forms of health. Counseling is necessary for abused children. A new light must shine in their lives to display new possibilities and realities, for the entire being is damaged by the dark cruelty. If nothing else is known other than the darkness of abuse, if nothing new is introduced, the child will never recover.

This truth applies in the spiritual realm as well. Spiritual darkness is, in its own way, waste and void. Spiritual darkness is the absence of spiritual light. As long as spiritual darkness is upon a person, that person will not develop properly and exist in a stagnated potential.

The Spirit of God Hovered Over the Waters

Notice that a precursor to light being spoken into existence was the Spirit of God's movement. God moved in Spirit upon the earth's waters in an act of preparation. In the Hebrew, as almost every renown commentator of good repute notes, the word hover casts the image of a mother hen brooding over the eggs which are soon to spring to animate as chicks. So the Spirit of God brooded over the waters to keep warm, to aid the development of life. Light was then spoken into existence to spark the life.

As spiritual life goes, consider Galatians 5:16-17:

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want."

If I walk (or live) by the Spirit of God, then those things contrary to life (here identified as the flesh) I will not do.

If I live by the the flesh (anti-Spirit, anti-life) then I assuredly will remain lifeless, wasted, and void.

The Spirit (of life; cf. Rom 8:1-3) works in opposition to the flesh. The Spirit produces life. The flesh produces death (Rom 8:5-8). And Jesus said that flesh cannot create spiritual life; only the Spirit can created spiritual life (John 3:6-8).

So we should have no expectations that a life lived in spiritual darkness could created a spiritual life. The life of spiritual darkness (the flesh) is mean, hateful, and destructive. It is wasted and empty and only produces after its own kind more wastefulness and emptiness.

God's Spirit must move on a person living in darkness. His light must shine for spiritual life to develop. Flee spiritual darkness. Leave lifestyles, friends, and even family who live in spiritual darkness. Seek out and pray for God to shine his light to bring about healing and new life in Christ.