What Did God Do When The Lights Went Out

WHAT DID GOD DO WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT

A Survey through the Scripture concerning God and Darkness

INTRODUCTION: THIS HAS BEEN SOME SORT OF WEEK HASN’T IT? THIS WEEK OUR LITTLE AREA OF THE WORLD HAS SURVIVED AN EARTHQUAKE, A HURRICANE NAMED IRENE AND A TORNADO. ALL THAT IS LEFT IS FOR A VOLCANIC CRATER TO OPEN UP SOMEWHERE IN THE TOWNSHIP. IN ADDITION TO THE NATURAL DISASTERS THEMSELVES, THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN THE FORM OF FLOODING AND POWER OUTAGES. FOR SHERRY AND I, WE DID NOT GET OUR POWER BACK UNTIL 2AM TUESDAY MORNING, AFTER IT HAD BEEN LOST AROUND 5PM ON SUNDAY. ALL IN ALL THINGS COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE. AND IN THE MIDST OF ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED AND CONTINUES TO UNFOLD, GOD IS STILL – AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN – AND ALWAYS WILL BE GOOD! AMEN?

SO I THOUGHT THAT THIS MORNING, WE WOULD FIND OUT WHAT GOD DID WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT. WE PROBABLY HUNKERED DOWN, LIT CANDLES, PULLED OUT FLASHLIGHTS, SEARCH FOR OTHER HOUSING, OR A VARIETY OF OTHER THINGS.

WHILE SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURE, I FOUND SEVERAL THINGS GOD DID WHILE THERE WAS DARKNESS. SO, LET US LOOK AT THEM TOGETHER, …

1. WHEN THE LIGHTS WERE OUT GOD CREATED

Genesis 1:2 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.

a. WHAT YOU AND I NEED TO TAKE FROM THIS SIMPLE TRUTH IS THAT ALL WE HAVE, HAVE HAD, AND WILL HAVE COMES FROM THE CREATIVE ACTIVITY OF GOD.

b. GOD WAS INTIMATELY, MINUTELY, AND EXPERTLY INVOLVED IN ALL THAT WE SEE IN THE HEAVENS AND ON THE EARTH AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN.

c. WE DO NOT SERVE A SMALL, WEAK GOD. RATHER, WE SERVE A GOD OF IMMENSE POWER, SIZE AND ABILITY.

d. THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE TEMPTED TO QUESTION THE ACTIVITY, VERACITY, OF COMMITMENT OF GOD, JUST LOOK AT ALL HE HAS DONE.

e. GOD TOOK A DARKNESS OF NOTHINGNESS AND TURNED IT INTO THE BEAUTY YOU HAVE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES, WITH YOU YOURSELF BEING THE CROWNING GLORY OF HIS CREATIVE ACTIVITY.

f. MAN MADE IN THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD HIMSELF!

2. WHEN THE LIGHTS WERE OUT GOD JUDGED

Exodus 10:21-22 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt--darkness that can be felt." 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.

a. I AM SURE YOU ARE AWARE OF THE BACKGROUND OF THIS EVENT.

b. THE NATION OF ISRAEL WAS, AFTER MANY YEARS OF PEACE AND HARMONY WITH THE EGYPTIANS, NOW THEIR SLAVES.

c. GOD HAD HEARD THEIR CRIES, WAS AWARE OF THEIR PLIGHT, AND THUS RAISED A LEADER FROM THEIR MIDST TO BRING THIS SPECIAL PEOPLE OF GOD OUT FROM BONDAGE AND TO THE PROMISED LAND.

d. AFTER WHAT MIGHT VERY WELL BE CALLED A ROCKY START MOSES APPEARS TO PHARAOH AND DEMANDS THAT THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL BE ALLOWED TO WORSHIP THEIR GOD.

e. PHARAOH OF COURSE DENIES THIS TO THEM, HARDENING HIS HEART AND SETTING INTO MOTION THE DIVINE ACT OF GOD WHEREBY HE WOULD JUDGE THE NATION OF EGYPT, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME SHOWING HIMSELF SUPERIOR TO ALL THE GODS OF EGYPT.

f. WHAT WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND IS THAT GOD AND GOD ALONE IS OUR PROTECTOR AND HEARER OF OUR PLEAS.

g. IT IS UP TO HIM AND HIM ALONE TO COME TO OUR AID.

h. WHEN WE TRY TO AFFECT CHANGE WITHOUT HIM – AS MOSES SOUGHT TO DO, WE DENY HIM THE RIGHT TO SHOW FORTH HIS MIGHT AND POWER.

i. IN DARKNESS GOD MADE HIS PRESENCE KNOWN AND FELT, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME ACTING IN SUCH A WAY AS TO BRING RETRIBUTION AND JUSTICE FOR THE AFFLICTION OF HIS PEOPLE.

j. THE NEXT TIME WE ARE TEMPTED TO TAKE MATTERS INTO OUR OWN HANDS, REMEMBER THAT IN DOING SO WE DENY GOD HIMSELF THE RIGHT TO SHOW HIMSELF SUFFICIENT, AND MAY VERY WELL DELAY THE ACT OF GOD ON OUR BEHALF.

3. WHILE THE LIGHTS WERE OUT GOD PROTECTED

Joshua 24:7 But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time.

a. JUST AS GOD IS THE ONE WHO COMES TO OUR AID, HE IS ALSO THE ONE WHO PROTECTS US IN TIMES OF DISTRESS AND DANGER.

b. GOD ALONE HEARS US EACH AND EVERY TIME WE CALL, AND PROVIDES THE PROTECT WE NEED BASED ON HIS UNFAILING LOVE FOR US.