In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Genesis 1:1–3, KJV).
Today there is darkness upon the face of the earth. There are many things occurring in our society and culture that amount to anything but good. It’s becoming difficult to trust people, and there is chaos everywhere we look.
But, this is not the first time in history when the world has been dark and chaotic. In the beginning, the world was dark and without form. But, God showed up and created something out of nothing. He looked at the waste, void, chaos, and darkness and said, “Let there be light!” Today is no different—God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and He can speak into the darkness of 2016.
In the beginning, in the middle of the chaos, the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. We know God can move in any way that He chooses. In the beginning, He moved alone in His power. Today, God desires to pour His Spirit (and power) into each of us so we can be beacons and light up this dark world. Jesus said that we are the light of the world and we are to let our light shine before men (Matthew 5:14–16). When we have a light, we shouldn’t hide it, but go into areas of darkness—the world—and shine that light! It is our responsibility to share Jesus with the world.
When light shows up anywhere, there is a dramatic difference. Darkness technically doesn’t have any lines or boundaries; it’s undefined. Because there is no structure, no definition, no surety of darkness, it is easy to defeat. Darkness is just the absence of light. The slightest hint of light will always destroy the darkness.
God was at the beginning, and Scripture tells us in Him was life and that life is the light of men (John 1:1–4). When the light shined into the darkness, the darkness didn’t have any power against it (John 1:5)! Real light doesn’t come from artificial light sources, but from the supernatural power and presence of God. And, His light will always make a difference.
When God shows up, there will be light. The brightest light this world will ever see is from the fire of the Holy Ghost working within us (Acts 2:3–4). The bigger the fire, the brighter the light will be. Today, we can all take part in shedding a little light into the world. Let’s surrender our lives to Him, be a vessel He can pour into, and then a conduit to shed that light to others.