Article November 30, 1998 Issue

Spiritual light on the battlefield

Freedom from fear—even in the combat zone

By Kenneth E. Bemis III

EARLY ONE SUMMER morning, I climbed a peak near my home that would offer a great view of the sunrise. When I reached the top, the low eastern sky was already getting lighter, and a few minutes later a slim, vibrant orange line emerged on the horizon. From there on, the scene was spectacular.

As I stood watching this colorful display, a new perspective came to my thought: there was no battle going on between the sunlight and the darkness. The sunlight wasn't struggling to push out the darkness, and the darkness wasn't fighting back. A short time before, the darkness looked immense and very real. But the sunlight, just by presenting itself, dissolved the darkness. This struck me as being very much like God's healing and protecting power—it really has no opposition.

The symbol of light has been used since early times to describe the uncontested power of God's goodness. The first command God gives in the spiritual account of creation relates to light. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness" (Gen.1:3,4).

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