S5 E31 - Adjusting to the Dark

We recently went to the Cincinatti zoo with some good friends, and one of the exhibits is for nocturnal animals. It was very dark, and at first the kids could not see a thing. Our friends reminded them to give it time, the longer they stayed in the dark the more comfortable their eyes would become. 

Unfortunately, we can become all to comfortable with darkness too. We can be like those Jeremiah warned about, who don't even know how to feel humiliation anymore. The longer you walk in darkness, the less it bothers you. May we strive to walk in the light. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 5 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. And I’m excited to share a few moments together with you learning some important lessons from the simplest things. Let’s grow together! 

Making the decision to homeschool our children has been one of the best decisions we have ever made for so many reasons. While not among the most important benefits, one good thing about homeschooling has been our ability to be flexible with the kid’s schedule. We are able to schedule field trips to do hands on learning whenever we so desire. So when our good friends Alex & Marta were in town, who both happen to currently or in the past work in zoos with animals directly, we dropped everything to go to the Cincinnati Zoo with them yesterday. Going through the zoo with two knowledgeable individuals is a completely different experience, and the kids learned so much! To be honest, I did too! The kids got to feed giraffe’s and learn about why their tongues are blueish purple and rough. They got to watch a large male lion roar from the tip of rocks ledge. They even got to stand directly in front of a 9000-pound hippo, who dwarfed all three children as he hopped to and from the bottom of his aquatic enclosure. But the experience we want to talk about today happened to be in the exhibit we walked through to see different nocturnal animals.  

The zoo has titled this exhibit “night hunters” – and was originally set up by combining the former cat house and nocturnal house in 2010. Inside of the exhibit you were able to see all kinds of creatures that are primarily nocturnal in nature and prefer the dark. Fishing cats, fossa, bearcats, a fennec fox and vampire bats highlight some the incredible creatures we were able to teach the kids about as we guided them through the dimly lit walkways. When I say that these exhibits are dark, I mean they are dark dark! The enclosures are dimly lit by a dark red light, which allows visitors to see these animals without disturbing their natural behaviors. They use this light because nocturnal species have a particularly hard time seeing red on the color spectrum, so to the animals it appears darker than it actually is. While this allows visitors to see, it’s still extraordinarily dark in these exhibits, especially when you first walk in after having been outside. As we took our first steps in, the kids said, “We can’t see anything!” and were quickly grasping for hands of Alex, Marta, Kylie or myself. Alex explained to the kids, “It’s going to be harder to see at first, and that’s because your eyes need time to adjust to the darkness. But once you give it enough time and your eyes get comfortable, you’ll be able to see better.” Sure enough, before too long, the kids were walking around on their own after having become comfortable with the darkness that surrounded them. 

As we continued to walk around the rest of the zoo, I started contemplating what we had just experienced walking through the dark exhibit. There is a spiritual reality to be realized in this story, and one that we must be very careful to avoid. That reality very plainly is this: the longer you walk darkness, the less it bothers you to do it. 

David will begin the Psalms with a very clearly progression to describe this process. He states in Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.” Did you notice that progression there in the text? From walking, to standing, finally to sitting. It is a picture of one who grew more and more comfortable with wickedness, to the point that they sat down and made themselves comfortable among those who also walk in darkness. Paul will also describe this same principle through a similar illustration in Eph. 4:17-19, “Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.” Paul warns the Christian to not go back to walking in the darkness, a place where we were callous and therefore devoid of feeling remorse or shame. Remember back to early struggles in your life, the very first time that you did something you knew you should not have done. It likely resulted in fear, shame, and discouragement. But the more you did that thing, the more you spent time walking in darkness, the more you became comfortable with it. Before long, you would continue to do the very same things and think nothing of it – it no longer resulted in shame or fear because of our hard, calloused hearts. Paul says we are no longer to walk this way. If we are not careful, the description Jeremiah gives of the people can become a description of ourselves – “Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 6:15) 

How then are we to walk? Moving on to the very next chapter, Paul will instruct us in Ephesians 5:6-17, “Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. Therefore, do not become their partners. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—testing what is pleasing to the Lord. Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. Everything exposed by the light is made visible, for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” 

My friends, the time has long since passed for us to walk in darkness. If there are things you know you should change in your life, things that are not in alignment with the Word of God, that you’ve simply become comfortable with and no longer bother you – that is a dangerous place to be. We are called to walk in the light, as God himself is light. We are called to be ashamed of the things we once walked in, and instead be willing to expose them. Let him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light direct your every thought, motive, word and action. Don’t get comfortable with darkness, rather take comfort from the Light of the World. 

This has been the Set Your Mind Above Podcast, season 5 episode 31 – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! We will be taking a short break from the podcast for my family and to enjoy a vacation, but we return back after that.  Also, if you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating or most importantly share it with someone else – it would help to reach others that I never could alone.  And more than anything, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.