I’ve been hearing a lot lately about the “spiritual darkness” in Haiti. Pat Robertson was way over the top with it, but you hear it in a lot of prayers in prayer meetings and churches all over the place, that the spiritual darkness in Haiti would be lifted, and they would one day find themselves in God’s grace. This attitude ignores two basic points:

  1. Both Christians and non-Christians died in Haiti.
  2. Spiritual darkness is in your house, too.

The first point is kind of obvious, but it begs restating. It wasn’t just the Godless heathens that died, it was anybody who happened to be under roof, wall or other hard item that collapsed on top of them when the quake hit. And its not just the white American missionaries who are Christians in Haiti, there are a lot of Haitian Christians. We have this mental image of all Haitians running around half-naked in the jungle wearing sunglasses at night while performing voodoo rituals in which they are biting heads off chickens and sticking pins in dolls. Give it up, folks. Haiti is a rough place, but it’s mainly because the people are really poor. And you can help fix that, even when there isn’t an earthquake or hurricane.

The second point is pretty obvious as well, but you’ve chosen to ignore it. Most of you are living in spiritual darkness. What is spiritual darkness? It is rebellion against God, it is idolatry, it is love of self. Look at yourself in the mirror. Everyone is in rebellion against God at one level or another, and you are no exception (Psalm 14:3). You rebel every day, multiple times, even those of you who are Really Good People. The fact that you are sitting there smugly talking about Haiti’s spiritual darkness shows that you have something in your eye that needs removal (Matthew 7:3-5).

You’re also an idolator. “What?”, you say, “An idolator? Surely not me!” So, how ’bout them Cowboys? You know your favorite sports team better than you know the Bible. You park your car diagonally across three spaces in the farthest reaches of the parking lot so your idol won’t get a door ding. You fawn over your children, giving them everything they want (which is everything their friends want), without teaching them anything about the joy of earning something. You bow to the thin-screen television. Wake up! Consumerism is a form of idolatry, and you are so deep in it you don’t realize you’ve drowned. Spiritual darkness, indeed.

You love yourself more than God. That’s the ultimate spiritual darkness, when you love yourself more than He who created everything you see, who blesses you with the air you breathe, the food you eat, shelter, heat, and the list goes on. Oh, and did I mention that he saved you from eternal damnation??? But you talk about your job, your money, your effort, you, you , you. Better go read the Book of Job again. God’s good grace keeps you from the same fate as that Haitian who is sleeping in the street, battling for water, eating scraps, smelling the stench of death. Nothing you have is yours. You’re just the steward for the time being, and God has a history of finding someone else to be the steward if you do a lousy job of it, or for any other purpose known only to Him.

Now, there are those of you who will say, and rightly so, that the Lord has punished wicked nations in the past. That is true, including his chosen nation Israel, which continues to this day. But remember, this is a fallen world, ruled by the prince of the air (Ephesians 2:1-2), where bad stuff just happens, and the Lord sometimes uses disaster for his glory, for his divine purpose (Isaiah 45:7). But Satan is far more insidious than that, he makes you believe everything is ok where you are. And while you sit there complacently, he laughs, because he has you right where he wants you .

Pray that God lifts you out of the darkness you are in. Pray for your church. Pray for your nation. Pray that you will be called to help the poor, the widows, the orphans, the elders at the gate. And don’t be so quick to pass judgement (Luke 6:37).