Have you ever been lost in the dark?

I was, once.  It happened one day when I was leaving an office building.  As I waited in the hallway for an elevator, the building’s electricity suddenly blinked out.  Since the sun was shining through a nearby window, I made my way to the fire exit instead, planning to walk down to my car in the parking lot below.

But as soon as the heavy door to the stairway clanged shut behind me, I was in trouble.  The tightly-sealed door shut out all the light.  I couldn’t see my hand in front of me.  Cautiously I took a few steps forward and reached for a handrail that I thought was nearby.

Except it wasn’t.  My hand swept through empty air.  I took a few more steps and groped around.  Nothing.  I started to panic.  What if I missed a step and tumbled down the stairs?  I turned around, intending to go back through the door to the sunny hallway--only to discover that I could no longer find the door. 

By then, I was disoriented and afraid to move.  I knelt down and tried to feel my way down the steps, but that didn’t work either.  I was completely lost in the dark.

Finally I heard someone coming down from a floor above me.  A man had left the building by the stairwell, too, but he had a book of matches and was lighting them one by one to guide his steps.  He let me hold onto him, and together, we navigated our way out of the building and into the light.

When I read what Beth has to say about lies in Praying God’s Word, I remembered the day when I was lost in the dark.  Scripture tell us that Satan is the father of deceit, and as Beth reminds us, he wants to keep us trapped in the spiritual darkness that is born from lies, whether they are the lies we tell ourselves, or the lies we tell others.  

But there is a way out.  As Beth says, “the enemy knows that once we expose the secret places of our lives to the light of God’s Word, we’re on our way to freedom.”  God’s Word illuminates our path, and it will never fail us.   But we must hold onto it, cling to it, and lean on it.  When we’re lost in dark places, we must turn to His Word as the lamp for our feet, as a light that will direct our steps and keep us safe. What a gift, to walk in that marvelous light!