CANDLE OF THE LORD - Proverbs 20:27
Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
Inside each one of us, God has put a conscience. Your conscience will either burn bright or will have hardly any influence upon your life. When God created you, HE put deep inside you a knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. However, you chose to do that which is right in your own eyes and as such, you had to either repent of your evil ways or you had to continue to do what you thought was right and you had to dim the influence of your conscience.
When you continue to sin and do that which is right in your own eyes, you are essentially burying the light of God in your life so that you do not feel guilty for your violations of HIS perfect law. The brighter the light of God shines in your life, the harder it is for you to violate his perfect law.
David was a man who had a heart after the heart of God. Just because David tried to keep his conscience clear of offenses, he still sinned and fell short of the glory of God. A quick study of the life of David reveals that on several occasions David violated the perfect will of God. However, the difference between David and many other individuals in the Bible is how quickly David repented and allowed God to restore the relationship.
The light of God needs to shine bright in our life. The problem is, light does not mix with darkness. Thus, if you are going to allow the light of God into your life, you must allow that light to completely dwell within you. You cannot live half in the light and half out of the light. You can only serve one master. If you choose to serve God, be ready for God to use his light to reveal to you areas that you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. God is not going to allow your sin to remain hidden.
Your sin life has no chance to survive if you choose to serve God. When you choose to serve God, God is going to be quick to bring to your attention violations of HIS perfect law. God does not do this because HE hates you and wants to ensure that your life is miserable. The light of God discourages your sins and encourages repentance because God desires that you remain faithful to HIM.
God was with the nation of Israel when they defeated the city of Jericho. However, Achan sinned and took that which belonged to God. As a result, God did not help the nation of Israel fight their battles and as such, many men lost their lives. As Joshua prayed to discover why God had not blessed the nation against such a small town, Joshua was told that there was sin in the camp. Think about it, one man sinned and God removed HIS blessing from an entire nation.
Joshua allowed God to guide him until God revealed to him that it was Achan who had sinned. In the eyes of Achan, his sin was small, but in the eyes of God, it was sin and it caused an entire nation to suffer a defeat. The sin of Achan was dealt with and the blessing of the Lord returned.
Do you understand the consequences of sin in your life? Do you understand just how important your relationship with God really is? You need to take time to add knowledge of the ways of God to your life so that you can fully appreciate who God is and what it means to have HIS light shining forth in your life. The more time you spend around the light, the harder it will be for darkness to dwell within you.