The Light Must Shine - Audio

Our text this morning is from long ago, but the message in those words transcend time and are applicable to us today. Hezekiah had assumed the leadership from his father, and was faced with picking up the pieces after a people had turned away from God and had put out the lights in God’s house. The times were exceedingly wicked and vile. Hezekiah inherited a nation in peril from many sides. There were in physical danger being surrounded on all sides by an enemy who was encroaching on their land. They faced social peril. The moral fabric of that country had depreciated to the place that was beyond what we could comprehend. There were things that went on under the guise of religion that would make us sick to think that “spiritual” people could do. The most telling peril they faced was spiritual. The bible says that the doors of the house of God were shut up and that alters to many other gods were erected across the land. What had happened inside their minds was the most dangerous thing. The bible says that the lights had been extinguished on God’s house. In the darkness, even the smallest light gives hope and direction. The lamps of the light were vital to the worship experience. It was the command of God that the tabernacle; the place of worship, would be lighted continually. When the lamps go out, it affects all of God’s people. When the light in our soul goes out, there is no telling what will happen in the rest of our life. If that light goes out, everything else in our life will go dark as well. Hezekiah was a man, who at a young age, was determined to make a difference. He changed the destiny of his people. He was the son of a wicked man, who even though he was raised in that environment, would not allow his life to say in the spiritual darkness that had come on the land. We live in a time when we look around and see a decline in morals and values. It is so common that we are no longer shocked or embarrassed by things that we know are sin. LIke Hezekiah, we have to refuse to let our life be enveloped by the darkness of the world. We must keep the light lit for a dark world. Like Hezekiah, any one of us can make a difference. Hezekiah’s life shows us that no matter how wicked the times may be or how dark the environment looks, one light can make a difference. The light must shine in us, or our world is doomed. The light must shine.