I think the distinction you're drawing makes sense. If one misdirects the divine light, they are still channelling it (albeit to limited ends). But I wonder if outright refusal is self-limiting: if you refuse the divine light, you weaken yourself, which causes you to have less ability to refuse the divine light, which has the roundabout effect that it strengthens you.

Using the Empedoclean scheme I've been working with, misdirecting the light seems to be possible as far us as the realm of Water (e.g. daimones of the lower variety are "higher" than us but can still be wicked). But refusal of the light seems to force one to be stuck in the realm of Earth (e.g. at the lower end of human capability, since any lower than that and one hasn't enough reflective capacity to refuse the light).

Much to ponder on that one, thank you for suggesting the line of thought...