Читать книгу Beyond the Horizon - Harry A. Renfree - Страница 34

January 28

One of the most ridiculous taxes ever imposed was the window tax that was imposed on people in London, England, from 1695 to 1851. Every house with more than six windows was liable to a tax for the extras. Many people simply boarded up their windows to avoid the tax. In effect, the government had put a tax on sunshine.

Quite a few windows are still being boarded up these days—not by boards or brick or mortar, but by human regulation, often at various levels of government. And they are not set up to keep out the light of the sun, but rather the light of spiritual life. There are repressive governments in the world that prevent people from worshipping God and preaching the gospel of Christ.

Lest we forget, there are similar happenings right in our own backyard. It’s getting increasingly difficult, for example, for the Gideons to distribute Bibles in the schools anymore. Teachers have to be very careful what they say concerning spiritual matters. And referring to the Christmas season, where can you put up a replica of the manger scene in a public place?

In that long, one hundred nineteenth Psalm, verse 105, the Psalmist writes: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Any country that bans that Word or subverts it does so at that country’s peril. Take away the Word of God, and the light and lamp of life goes out, and all is darkness.

As the book of Hebrews puts it: “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight.” (Hebrews 4:12–13a).

You might attempt to block out the windows . . . even the windows of the soul. But you cannot hide from God—“to whom [as the book of Hebrews puts it] we must give account” to avoid the tax. God’s light penetrates.