Lighthouses, my mother loved them, so one day I was looking at how they worked. And I realized there are some parallels we can draw from them in our own lives. First I start off with a story, the story about how the song “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning”, we just sung came to be. Starts off with D. L. Moody, he was an evangelist, speaker and preacher during about the civil war era. He came and held meetings all over the country, but he also ended up stopping here around Cleveland. One night he relayed a story about a shipwreck. On a dark and tempestuous night, when not a star was visible, a ship was approaching the harbor of Cleveland with a pilot on board.
The captain noticed only one light as they drew near. That from the lighthouse. He asked the pilot if he was quite your it was the Cleveland harbor because another light should have been burning at the harbor mouth. The pilot replied he was quite sure were upon the captain inquired, where are the lower lights? Gone out sir replied the pilot. Can we make the harbor then asked the captain? The pilot answered we must sir or perish. Bravely the old man steered the vessel upon her course towards safety, but alas in the darkness of the harbor he missed the channel and the ship struck upon many rocks. In the stormy waters many lives were lost. Moody then ends this story by appealing to his audience saying brothers the Master will take care of the great lighthouse, let us keep our lower lights burning.
Among those in attendance was Philip Biss who was a very well known hymn writer and if you look at the bottom of the hymn we just sung he was the one who penned the words to music. It is a most striking story and it ended up becoming one of his most powerful hymns.
Where are lighthouses? Of course they are along the shore. Aske yourself, if you found a lighthouse in the middle of Kansas is it doing it’s job like the one’s along the shore? When is a lighthouse needed the most? Is it needed during the day? No, it is needed in the dark.
In this lesson we will talk about light and darkness as they are portrayed in the bible. You are not in darkness, you are in the light (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5).