DARK BACKGROUNDS

Have you ever noticed that artists often paint a dark background in order to make the figures in the foreground stand out?

When God brought Jesus into the world His light shined against a VERY dark background. Jesus was born during a bleak and dismal period in Israel's history.

Nationally: The glory that had once defined the nation of Israel had long since dissipated. Centuries before Jesus came, God's people commanded God's prophets to be quiet (see Amos 2:11-12). The hearts of the people became hard as flint and they would not heed the words of the Lord. (see Zechariah 7:11-12) In essence, God's people stopped listening so God (temporarily) stopped talking. For more than 400 years (from Malachi to Matthew) there was no anointed prophet, priest or king in Israel.

Politically: During this time Israel fell under the iron fist rule of the Roman government. The Roman senate appointed Herod the Great as "king of the Jews" to administrate the land of Israel. A more despised nor corrupt despot could not have been found! As onerous as the Romans were to God's people, Herod was equally so.

Economically: God's people were impoverished and oppressed. They lived under heavy taxation, harsh rule and constant fear accompanied by atrocities that would be hard for us to comprehend as civilized people today.

Religiously: The religion that had been the backbone of the nation since its foundation - the identity that made them different from all other nations on the earth - had become weakened by warring factions within it. The Pharisees - the fundamentalists of their day - imposed such grievous and heavy laws that no man could possibly obey. The Sadducees - the liberals of their day - found their calling in arguing interpretation of the laws rather than in any measure of righteousness. Add to these, the splinter groups and you have a totally fragmented religion that was "religion" in name only.

The only unifying force left to God's people was the Temple with its rituals and the promise of the coming Messiah.

Religion had ceased to be a blessing and had become a burden. Religion without the presence of God will always be burdensome. It's only the presence of God that brings blessing. The joy of worship the Jews had once known had been replaced by endless rituals that affected every waking moment of their lives. Even those who prayed for Messiah to come did so more out of desperation than of faith.

For more than 400 years God's people had not heard His voice nor experienced His presence - it was a dark time - and yet, sacrifices were made daily in the Temple. People bowed down in worship out of habit - not holiness. It was "business as usual" in their religious life.

Sometime around 6 BC on one of those ordinary "business as usual" days, God stepped into the affairs of men as an aging priest was doing what he had been chosen to do. (Luke 1:5-25 records the encounter.)

I think about the dark time surrounding the coming of Christ and I can't help but wonder, my sweet friends . . . how different are things today? All around me I see fellow believers to whom religion has become a burden instead of a blessing. Perhaps you have even felt that way some time or another. May it never be! Our world may be "dark" but our God has not ceased speaking. In the dispensation we live under since the coming of Christ, the Holy Spirit is a constant presence revealing the righteousness of God to us.

Has your faith become "business as usual"? Do you get up and go to church on Sunday morning because it's a HABIT? Do you spend a few minutes with a devotional book in the mornings because it's what you are SUPPOSED TO DO?

Oh, sweet sister - it's not about legalism and following rules - it's about a relationship with the Son of God and enjoying the presence of His Spirit!! He created you to worship. He simply wants you to respond to Him out of the awareness of His greatness and goodness that you feel in your spirit.

He wants to enter into your every day "business as usual" world with power, majesty and revelation the same way he did Zacharias (Luke 1:11) Cease striving in "outer rituals" and enjoy His inner reality today! Let His light shine at the forefront of your dark world.