Walking in the Light – Part 2
or The Path through the Darkness
Tehillim (Psalm) 23:4 Yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
In the previous study of Walking in the Light – Part 1, we began our study of walking in the light. In that study we examined how YHWH is in the light; and in fact, Scripture teaches us that He is light. Furthermore, we are to walk in the light as He is in the light. However, there is a great disparity in the life of the talmid (disciple) of Mashiach Yeshua, in that while he walks in the light of Mashiach, much of that walk is in the darkness of this present world.
In Scripture, there are two distinct understandings of the darkness. One type of darkness almost everyone understands as it relates to the world: error, sin, and evil. However, there is also an aspect of darkness that does not have anything to do with any of these things, but deals with an aspect of faith that few seem to fully understand as it is rarely discussed.
Our walk is to be a walk of faith. This means that the steps that we are taking cannot be seen in the physical most of the time; if in fact, we can even see the path of faith at all. It is this darkness that we need to understand in this study so that we can walk more perfectly before Him all the days of our lives. The first section of passages of Scripture that we are going to examine is going to teach us about the relationship between YHWH our Elohim and darkness. Since we have already learned that He is light and that there is no darkness in Him at all, we then need to learn that there is an aspect of darkness which is related to YHWH which has nothing to do with sin or evil in any way.
Shemot (Exodus) 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a shofar exceeding loud; and all the people that were in the camp trembled.
Please note above, that when YHWH came down upon Mount Sinai, He did so in a thick cloud. Moshe gives us some additional information later on in Devarim.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 5:22-23 22 “These words YHWH spoke to all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them to me. 23 And it came to pass, when you heard the Voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;”
Moshe tells us quite clearly that the top of the mountain was covered in thick darkness. The writer to the Ivrim also echoes this same truth.
Ivrim (Hebrews) 12:18 For you have not come to a mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
We have come to Mount Tzion, to the mount of heavenly light rather than to a mount covered in thick darkness. But what we need to learn from this is that YHWH is in the midst of that thick darkness. Please note what the Psalmist records in the next two Psalms.
Tehillim (Psalm) 18:9-12 9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down; And thick darkness was under His feet. 10 And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; Yea, He soared upon the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness His hiding-place, His sukkah round about him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. 12 At the brightness before Him His thick clouds passed, Hailstones and coals of fire.
Please note that in the above passage, thick darkness was under His feet; YHWH made darkness His hiding place, and darkness was His sukkah in which He dwelt; and finally because of the exceeding brightness of His Being, thick clouds passed before Him; all this for the purpose of hiding His glory.
Tehillim (Psalm) 97:2 Clouds and darkness are round about him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
Notice that once again we are taught in this passage that YHWH surrounds Himself with clouds and darkness. Why does He surround Himself in darkness? He has done this to protect His creation which has fallen into the darkness of wickedness and evil. Since no evil thing can come into His presence, then it follows that He must protect His creation from His holiness. Otherwise, His creation would simply perish because of its lack of holiness.
What we have discovered so far is that YHWH has surrounded Himself with darkness in order to protect us in our present state of separation from Him. His surrounding Himself with darkness is a great act of compassion towards us. But we must be restored back into His presence or back into His light. In order for this to happen we must penetrate the veil of darkness that surrounds Him. In fact, we must penetrate all the way through the darkness and come into His glorious light. Herein lies the problem for us who are on this journey. Most of us do not fully understand the journey He has called us to take, and therefore do not walk on this journey according to the proper path that He has blazed for us via Yeshua our Mashiach. As we continue to examine Scripture, please keep in mind that we are discussing the concept of walking in the light. Since we have now discovered that there is a veil of darkness in which YHWH has wrapped Himself, then we must go through a purifying process in order to be able to step into that light; hence, the need to die to self and the self-will.
As we began this portion of the study we saw how the Psalmist declared that even though he walks in the valley of the shadow of death, he would not fear any evil. This is a very important verse for us as we need to understand the need to walk all the way through that valley in this life. For if one attempts to walk somewhere else except through that valley, then he will not be properly equipped to step into His light when the time comes.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 50:10 Who is among you that fears YHWH, that obeys the Voice of His servant? He that walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of YHWH, and rely upon his Elohim.
Please note that this passage teaches us that those who walk in the darkness must do so by trusting in the name of YHWH. This is a walk of faith. It is not a walk by sight.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 59:9 Therefore is justice far from us, neither does righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
When was the last time that you went through a trial? Perhaps you are even in one right now. Does it seem like there is any justice or righteousness for you anywhere? No. It seems like all is darkness and there is no light to be found anywhere around you. We have all been in such places. May I submit to you today, that this is a good place to be and not an evil place to be? It would not be a good place to stay, but it is a good place to pass through on our way to YHWH our Elohim.
But once again, herein lies the problem. Many who step onto this path to begin the journey to YHWH our Elohim do not understand that they are going to have to penetrate that veil of darkness which YHWH has placed around Himself. So what often happens is that as soon as a person enters into any kind of darkness, the first thing He wants to do is to look around for any light whatsoever, and it matters not in which direction that light is. Then once finding a glimmer of light, he heads off towards that light without even asking his heavenly Father if that is the direction he must go as he is just assuming that he should move towards any light at all.
Qorintyah Bet (2nd Corinthians) 11:14 And no wonder; for even Satan masquerades himself into an angel of light.
One must always test the light He is walking towards to make sure that it is Mashiach Yeshua. Let us not be duped into following the light of men, which is no light at all.
Eikah (Lamentations) 3:2 He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.
When we get a jewel of new truth it often makes us hungry for more. Often we pray things such as asking YHWH to purify us that we might receive more from His hand. But then as soon as we pray this or something similar and He begins answering that prayer we begin kicking against the pricks. YHWH takes us into the darkness and we get scared and run right back out, or to the nearest exit we can find out of the darkness. The way that this is perceived by most, is that our life is a series of climbing up a hill into the light followed by the descent into
a valley, and then walking through the valley back up the other side into the light once again.
Illustrations by Nechemyah Emunah
Yirmeyah (Jeremiah) 13:16 Give glory to YHWH your Elohim, before He cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, He turns it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
But this is not really what is happening in the
life of the talmid. What is actually happening is
that, as one goes up the side of the valley, he is actually straying off the straight and narrow path. He is straying off the path of the valley of the shadow of death. This is a valley that we must all walk through in its entire length before we come out into the light of YHWH. However, most attempt to walk up on the sides of this valley where there is some light to see. Such a path does not ever bring complete death to self. Such a path is full of stumbling and tripping.
Yochanan (John) 10:1 “Amein, amein, I say to you, he that enters not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
One would not want to be branded as a thief or a robber, attempting to climb in some other way. Yet, this is exactly what one is doing when he is climbing out of the valley of the shadow of death. It is a matter of one’s life that he travels all the way through this valley and exits the valley into His light. Attempting to climb out of this valley is not the way to eternal life!
The path in the bottom of the valley, where it is darkest, is straight and narrow. It is a path which one cannot see with his physical eyes; but what one sees by faith must guide him. Once a person recognizes the path for what it truly is, then walking upon it daily becomes much easier. When we know that the path that we are called to walk upon by Yeshua our Mashiach is a path which cannot be seen, but must be walked by faith, then we will not fear walking through the darkness as His light is in us.
Daniel 2:22 It is He that reveals the deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.
As we follow the leading of His Spirit into and through the darkness, He will give us many great and glorious treasures that cannot be seen, for the darkness has hidden them. It is YHWH Himself who calls out our name while we are in the midst of the darkness to lead us and to guide us in the way that we should walk.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 45:3 “And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and the hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, YHWH, who call you by your name, even the Elohim of Israel.”
There are many great things that we learn when we fully submit to YHWH as He leads us through the darkest times of our lives. While we would not want to repeat those very dark times, they are honestly some of our most cherished times because of the deep abiding lessons that YHWH has taught us. It is during these times that we learn to fully trust in YHWH. It is during these dark times that we learn that He is, in fact, altogether trustworthy. May we learn to walk in the darkness leaning only on Him who is worthy!
Iyov (Job) 38:19-20 19 Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And as for darkness, where is the place thereof, 20 That you should take it to the bound thereof, And that you should discern the paths to the house thereof?
Do you know the path through the darkness to the dwelling place of the light? The path has a name. His name is Yeshua our Mashiach. There is no other way to enter into the light of YHWH except through Yeshua. This was the essence of the study in part 1.
As long as a person has Yeshua as his life, then no matter how great the darkness may be, it will seem like light to him.
Tehillim (Psalm) 18:28 For You will light my lamp; YHWH my Elohim will lighten my darkness.
Please note where it is that we are most secure in the following passage.
Tehillim (Psalm) 91:1 He that dwells in the secret place of Elyon Shall abide under the shadow of Shaddai.
We are called to dwell in the shadow of YHWH our Elohim, a place of safety and darkness.
Tehillim (Psalm) 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their bonds apart.
There is coming a day in which we will no longer need to walk in the darkness as we will see Him and then we shall be as He is. But until that time, we must keep walking through the darkness until such time that we make it all the way through the darkness.
Tehillim (Psalm) 112:4 Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness: He is gracious, and merciful, and righteous.
To those who walk through the darkness and do so in the integrity of YHWH by the power and strength of His Spirit, YHWH will bestow His gracious mercy and righteousness.
Tehillim (Psalm) 139:12 Even the darkness hides not from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
We can be thankful that to YHWH the darkness and the light are the same. He can see equally well in either one. So, when we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, through the darkness of this present world, then we need to, and must, turn to YHWH our Elohim for daily guidance so that we will not stumble upon the path on which He has placed us.
Tessaloniqim Aleph (1st Thessalonians) 5:4-5 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light, and sons of the day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness;
While we are not of the darkness, and we are not in the darkness spiritually, we still must penetrate the veil of darkness through the purification of all things that cannot enter into His presence. By allowing YHWH to remove all those things from us in this life through the trials of adversity and darkness, then we will be fit to enter into His presence.
Kepha Aleph (1st Peter) 2:9 But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people for Elohim’s own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
YHWH has called us out of the darkness of this world. But it is a journey to get completely out of that darkness. One day we will be able to enter into His light in all its fullness. What a glorious day that will be!
These last few verses are included to show that the day of YHWH is not a day of light, but a day of great darkness.
Yoel (Joel) 2:1-2 1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My set-apart mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of YHWH comes, for it is near at hand; 2 a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there has not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.
And again;
Yoel (Joel) 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of YHWH comes.
Notice that this is literal darkness upon the earth.
Amos 5:18-20 18 Woe to you that desire the day of YHWH! Therefore would you have the day of YHWH? It is darkness, and not light. 19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of YHWH be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Many people long for the day of Yeshua’s return. But do you realize that this is going to be anything but pleasant? Are you sure you are as ready as you think you are?
Tz’phanyah (Zephaniah) 1:14-16 14 The great day of YHWH is near, it is near and hastens greatly, even the Voice of the day of YHWH; the mighty man cries there bitterly. 15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 a day of the shofar and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.
Let us remember how the people of Israel reacted when YHWH came down upon the mountain. They reacted in great fear of YHWH our Elohim, and rightly so. We will act in much the same fashion, I think. And if His people react in such a fashion, then how will those who do not live according to His commandments react? In utter terror!
Let us not forget the proverb that says that it is darkest before the dawn. As the dawn approaches, let us realize that the night comes when no man can work. Such a time seems to be upon us. Let us not faint or lose heart, but know and understand the times in which we live. Regardless of how dark the night may become in the days ahead, His light is sufficient for us to see the way home to our heavenly Father.
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 60:2 For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but YHWH will arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you.
HalleluYah that YHWH will shine upon us and we will see His glory and His glory will be seen upon us! It is something for which we can truly be thankful and look forward to experiencing.
Until that day, let us determine to walk all the way through the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death, so that everything that is not of YHWH may be removed from us so that we will be able to stand in His presence one day soon.
Let us not kick against the pricks that He is giving to us in this present darkness, but look to Him and keep our eyes upon Yeshua who is the Author and Perfecter of our faith!
ABBA YHWH, keep our feet on the straight and narrow path and give us strength to walk all the way through the darkness; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach.
