Obfuscate -[ob – fuhs – keyt] -To confuse or bewilder, to make unclear, to darken
What obfuscates you?
Have you ever talked with someone who spoke over your head? Or who just plain didn’t make sense?
I have this friend who doesn’t complete his sentences. I’m not sure if it’s that his mind is just moving so quickly that he jumps ahead to his next thought or if he actually thinks he’s said everything out loud. But it can be quite confusing talking to him. It used to bug me, but now it just makes me smile. And I take up the challenge to piece together the bits that he does say, so i can figure out what he’s actually talking about without asking a million questions.
I guess that could be an obfuscation. I certainly have felt bewildered and in the dark during computer-type conversations. But fortunately none of that is crucial to me living happily ever after. Maybe if I prided myself on my computer knowledge, but I don’t, so any unsettling feelings only hit me when my caffeine’s run out and I’m ready to be introverted again.
It’s a terrible thing to be confused, even if you’re just stuck in the middle of an over-your-head conversation. It can unsettle you. If the issues are bigger, it can make you desperate, and it can lead to life-changing mistakes.
Finding our way through that kind of darkness can be tough. It’s another one of those places in life that takes perseverance and courage, and those two things can be especially hard to hold onto when you’re standing in the dark, unsure, and utterly bewildered.
I think it’s telling that Jesus refers to himself as the Light of the World. An antonym for obfuscate is clarify, and to clarify is to make something clear, free from ambiguity, free from confusion. It is to turn a light on in a dark place. It is to speak truth.
It’s a bit of a pat answer to tell someone who’s struggling in the darkness that all they have to do is turn to God. I’ve been in that pit. Sometimes it can feel like his light just won’t reach that far. But it can. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And he has come to shed light on your darkness and to unobfuscate you (that’s properly not a correct way to use our word, but it’s true).
Try not to obfuscate anyone this week. And remember….
….”For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6
