God gave light

And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. – Exodus 14.20

Light vs darkness is one of the great themes of scripture. Darkness is always a little bit scary. It is hard to know where to go or what to do when you can’t see anything. The biggest fear of the darkness is what might be out there. You can’t see what dangers might be there.

Here at the Red Sea God made a clear delineation between light and darkness. The pillar that signified His presence gave only clouds and darkness to the Egyptians, but to the camp of Israel God gave light. It was just like it was in the plague of darkness – God’s people walked in the light and the rest of the Egyptians stumbled in darkness.

We can take it a step farther. That is where the world is today. Our whole world is lost in the darkness of sin. It stumbles and falls and things just get worse and worse. As believers we strive to walk in light and are amazed at the stuff going on. Why should we be so surprise? We have the light and they refuse it.

But God sent His Light, Jesus, into the world. But the world refuses Him because the world loves their darkness more than they love light. They can hide in their darkness; God’s light reveals their sin and forces them to deal with it.

And we are not immune. That is why even Christians have to be told to ‘walk in the light.’

We have the light. We don’t have to stumble in darkness. Why then do we choose the darkness so often?