For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Ephesians 5:8-10.

On our local news last night we watched a report meant to dispel the myths of human trafficking. On a bus you could travel around the metroplex to nice neighborhood hotels, to places nestled among small businesses in nice neighborhoods. In those places young teenage girls are visited 2-3 times per hour by a steady stream of men and billions are made as lives are destroyed. How do we come out of darkness?

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because the they know his voice. John 10:2-4.

We can know His voice. Will we listen?

In 1 Kings 13 by the word of the Lord a man of God came to Bethel and cried out against the altar that Jeroboam had built. He prophesied what would happen 300 years later at that altar. The sign he gave came true that day. The altar was split apart and the ashes poured out, v. 1-5. And what did Jeroboam do? He ordered the man of God to be seized as he stretched out his hand toward him from that altar. I couldn’t help but remember the wonders God performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and now He is doing that against a king of Israel. God does not show favoritism. Jeroboam’s hand shriveled up. The altar split apart spilling its ashes. Jeroboam asked the man of God to pray for his hand and God healed him, v. 4-6.

At this point is the curious part of the story because the man of God obeyed God by not eating any food or drinking any water or returning by the way he had come. He left Bethel as God commanded him when Jeroboam offered him food and drink.

Then, an old prophet who lived in Bethel found the man of God sitting under a tree and convinced him to return to his home in Bethel and eat with him. He convinced him by lying to him telling him an angel sent him to bring him back. Why didn’t the man of God heed God? The man of God said, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’” v. 16-17.

God had spoken specific words to the man of God. Why did he not listen to God only? It isn’t enough to hear God’s voice. It is enough to know Who we belong to and follow Him…no matter what anyone says who is not our Shepherd.

When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was left lying on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. Some people who passed by saw the body lying there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived. v. 23-25. And what did the old prophet of Bethel do? So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury him. Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him and said, “Alas, my brother!” v. 29-30. He instructed his sons to bury him in the same tomb when his time came. After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.” v. 31-32.

And what of Jeroboam? Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth. v. 33-34.

Do we want to come out of darkness? It’s a choice. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:14-18.

They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. How do we come out of darkness? We acknowledge there is darkness and that we need our Shepherd to lead us into the light of His Truth. We listen when He speaks to us. We trust Him for everything because He knows the Way. We don’t know the Way. We live in that darkness. Trust Him. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:18-20.

He has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true…so we can listen to His voice...as He leads us out of the darkness of sins that hurt us and hurt others. We are all of us hurting. It hurts to pray for victims of human trafficking; it hurts even more to pray for the hearts that victimize them. So I turn to Him for comfort and for strength. I turn to Him for the nourishment of His peace and pray for His peace for every heart. That’s how I turn away from the darkness to His glorious light.