Having been delivered from the dreadful life of a drunkard this verse is dear to my heart. But regardless of the nature of your sin, the need is the same for all of us. We need Jesus! You might not be a drunk, etc. but if you’ve never been born again you need Christ. He is the only one who can save you. Without Christ there is no help or hope. Consider what J. R. Miller said regarding this matter:
“Suppose the sun were never to rise again, and the light of every star were put out, what a gloomy world this would be! This is the picture of the world, in a moral and spiritual sense, without Christ, as it is painted in these words, ‘darkness and the shadow of death!’ — no light to guide, to cheer, to produce joy and beauty.
A world without Christ would be utter blackness unilluminated by a single ray of sun or even by a single far-away star. Christ is light. Only think what light does for us! It makes our days very bright; it shows us all the beautiful things that are around us. But it does far more. It produces all the life of the earth, and then nourishes it. There would not be a bud or a root or a leaf were it not for the sun. Nor would there be any beauty, for every lovely thing in nature the sun paints. Think of Christ, then , as light. His love brooding over us causes us to live, and nourishes in us every spiritual grace. Every beam of hope is a ray of light. What the coming of light is to a prisoner in a darkened dungeon, that is the bursting of mercy over the guilty soul. Light gives cheer; and oh what cheer the gospel gives to the mourner, to the poor, to the troubled!
Is it not strange that any will refuse to receive this light? If any one would persist in living in a dark cave, far away from the light of the sun, with only dim candles of his own making to pour a few feeble, flickering beams upon the gloom, we should consider him insane. What shall we say of those who persist in living in the darkness of sin, with no light but the candles of earth’s false hopes to shine upon their soul? There are many such, too. They turn to every ‘will o’ the wisp’ that flashes a little beam, anywhere rather than to Christ. It is like preferring a tallow candle to the sun.” He was right!
I know what darkness is! I have worked underground all day many days and I’ve been in numerous caves where no light could be seen when the flashlight was turned off. I have to tell you–I prefer light to darkness. But I have been in a much worse situation. For years I lived in spiritual darkness, which was dreadful and destructive. But the most wonderful day of my life took place when I received Christ, “the true Light”, as my Lord and Savior! If you are trapped in the dreadful darkness of sin, come to the Light of Life and be at peace. Do it now!–HDS
