I am sorry if you are getting tired of me talking about the new CD by Jason Gray we have been listening to, but I like it a lot so here is one more post about what the CD is all about.
The CD is aptly titled “A Way to See in the Dark” and each song follows along this theme of how we can see in the dark times of life, whatever they may be. One reason we love this CD is because we have an understanding of the background of the artist as we have read posts by him and see interviews of him. He is a singer, songwriter, pastor who has a stutter, though not when he sings. Imagining how hard that has been for him and hearing him talk of the transformation that God has done in his life helps make the meaning of these songs come to life. Another reason we like the CD so much is that it really strikes a nerve with our lives, and because it so beautifully proclaims that the only way we can see in the dark is because Jesus has shined a light into our darkness and made a way for us to see. We have been through many difficult circumstances in our life, and the truth proclaimed in these songs of how Christ faithfully provides the escape just when it seems there is nothing else to do, you are seemingly at the end of your rope and are about to lose hope. That is not to say that it is the rescue we always want, but it is always the rescue that we need.
Even more important than helping us to see in the dark during difficult times in our lives, God has made a way for us to see in the darkest of parts in our life and that is in regards to our sin nature. We are all born sinners, we are born blind to the spiritual realities of who we are and who God is, which is the most important thing for us to know. Spiritual blindness is the greatest darkness. I once went caving on a trip with a group seniors in high school, while we were crawling around the cave with our helmets with the little lights attached, the guide led us into a large cavern that was a dead end. He then asked us all to turn off our lights. The darkness that ensued was the blackest darkness I have ever experienced. The guide then challenged us to get out of the cavern without our lights, so we all groped our way along the floor and walls of the cavern to find our way back to another guide who was waiting for us at the entrance to this cavern. The point of the experience was to demonstrate what it is like to be lost in the darkness of our sin. We all need Jesus to shine the glorious light of his gospel into our hearts. We need God to say, “Let light shine out of darkness” we need God to shine the light in our hearts so that he can “give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6 ESV). Or as the prophet Isaiah says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Isaiah 9:2 ESV). The light of Christ has shone on us, who were in a land of deep darkness. God found a way to help us see. Without God’s work through Christ on our behalf, without the Spirit’s working in our heart to draw us to Him, we are all still in that unalterable state of darkness. The Good News is that God doesn’t want to leave us in the dark. He has shined a great big light into the darkness by sending Christ into the world to become sin for us, to die on the cross in our place, for our sins. God did all this while we were enemies with him. We never did anything for God to cause him to be merciful, loving, or gracious. No, it is who He is. God wants you to call on him in the darkness. He wants you to see your need for Him in your life. He wants you to see that you are a great sinner, but that He is a GREAT Savior. He has made a way to see in the darkness; turn to Christ and see. As John Newton has famously penned, “I once was blind but now I see.” I praise God that He made me see, and I am grateful that he has blessed people like Jason Gray and so many others to beautifully proclaim this truth.
Jess
John
