Looking Deeper- Darkness and Light

Today has been interesting. I went to church (The Riverview campus service) and they had a dialogue session afterward that I decided to stay for regarding spiritual gifts given by God after salvation. We went through personality tests, strengths, etc, in order to identify where we might be called by God. Here are a few verses I liked when we covered during dialogues.

James 1:5

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

and of course my favorite during my freshman year of collage:

Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

And a more recent favorite of mine:

Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

And a brief analysis of the heart spelled out in the booklet given to us:
> Why I say the things I do:

Matthew 12:34(GN)

The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

> Why I feel the way I do:

Hebrews 4:13 (Ph)

The Word of God... examines the thoughts and motives of the heart.

> Why I act the way I do:

Proverbs 3:23

Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
And the last question I'd like to cover today regarding this topic
Why has God given each person a unique heartbeat?

Revelation 17:17

God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose...
God never wastes a hurt
 II Corinthians 1:3-4 (LB)
God... wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does he do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them the same help and comfort God has given us!

Church service: 

I feel like for the first time God is lighting my path due to my willingness to serve Him. I am starting to see the truth as I look for it, instead of relying on other Christians for the answers in which I seek. Forty pages into "The Case for Christ" I see the evidence pour out before me to which I cannot deny. This happened at church today as well, With John "Free" Freeman's sermon on God's differentiation of light and darkness written in the Bible and the foreshadowing of Christ's death. 

Darkness is defined in the bible by:

• evil
• sin 

•  Exodus 12:12-13 Blood shed on the doors for sins- The angel of death
• “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

• judgment
• The old testament- The plague of Darkness Exodus 10:21-23
• Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

• chaos

• Old Testament- Genesis 1:1-3 
• In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

I once believed Jesus crying out to God was out of abandonment, but rather, Jesus was referencing the old testament's fulfillment that would come with Jesus's death (Christ had not been close to birth when this prophesy was made). By referencing the old testament, he is telling us why he had to die- because God is holy and sins separate us like the curtain between the ark of the covenant (explained below) and the people.

New testament- Matthew 27:45-46

Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 

Old testament Psalm 22:1 

"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?".  Jesus quoted Psalm in order to draw attention to the fact that He was fulfilling it there on the cross.   

 Old testament- before Christ-Psalm 22:1b-8,11-18

why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

 ²O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

 ³But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

 ⁴Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.

 ⁵They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

 ⁶But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

 ⁷All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

 ⁸He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. 

 ^...

¹¹Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.

 ¹²Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

 ¹³They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.

 ¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

 ¹⁵My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

 ¹⁶For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

 ¹⁷I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

 ¹⁸They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. 

New testament- as it happened
Multiple accounts

• Matthew 27:45-51

• From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 
• Luke 23:44-45
  

• It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 

• These two verse say that the light failed in the middle of the day (noon) for 3 hours until Christ called out to God. Due to the passover taking place on the full moon of spring, there was no chance that there was a natural eclipse. With darkness chaos ensued and fear that Jesus may have gotten away made the authorities anxious.
• The second verse indicates the veil of the temple was torn top down at Jesus's call out to God.

A little background on the curtain that was torn:

• only the highest priest was allowed into the room behind the curtain. 
• The ark contained the ten commandments written on the tablets
• The room had a curtain 15 feet by 15 feet and would have been impossible to tear from top to bottom by a human, and even so would have resulted in death by God in doing so in exposure to the ark
• It was custom to even have a rope around the high priest's ankle when he went behind the curtain, just incase God was displeased with him and was killed they could drag the body out.

Leviticus 16:2

² The LORD said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover. 

In summary word for word from Free's powerpoint:

• Jesus lived a life that we can relate to and we can be inspired to respond obediently before God.
• Jesus died a death we cannot relate to and so we can be inspired to respond humbly before God.
• I am sorry, Forgive me, I will trust you

Believing lies and reflecting an imperfect standard.

I’m not going to use generalized phrases, but I’m sure others can relate to the feeling of inadequacy. According to dictionary.com, inadequacy is the state of being found insufficient or having defect. Dwelling on inadequacy is not healthy, but believing inadequacy given to you by others is not ok. The only OTHER you should compare yourself to is Jesus Christ… What would Jesus do?

So, what, you may ask, did Jesus do? By coming to earth as the son of God and resisting all temptation of the world he humbled himself to be blamelessly nailed to a cross for mans’ sin. For those who believe in Him, (I emphasize that this is a relationship, not a religion in which a standard mode of action is “par”) but Jesus Christ Himself strengthens us in our weakness and loves our weakness because our reliance on Him brings us closer.

So, am I believing a lie that I'm inadequate? YES. Does Jesus think I'm inadequate? Not now. Since I believe Jesus Christ is my personal savior, God turned away from Jesus on the cross because our sin was put on Him. This allows us to be looked at with love from God even through our imperfections. If you beat yourself up regularly, you are believing a lie.

Psalm 73:25-26
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Philippians 3:13-14
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

^{John 3:3-8}
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

John 3:16-21

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.