Isaiah 9:2; 60:2
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
In my Praying the Names of Jesus book it focuses this week on the name 'Light of the World'.
This has always been one of my very favorite descriptions of God, because I have so clearly experienced why He is called that.
The author talks about her little girl and how she is scared of the dark and of the thought of monsters. But how cracking her door so a little light from the hall can spill in helps put her mind at rest.
When I went through the worst point of my anxiety and depression it was the darkest time of my life. I felt like a kid in a dark room. Scared, small and helpless. Not sure what to do or what was going to happen next. Controlled by my circumstances. Definitely fearing the worst.
But knowing and trusting in God and his promises has filled my soul with light. It has scattered all that darkness and misery and fear that hung on me like a wet blanket. I can see the path he has laid in front of me.
And even when tragedy has struck, when circumstances have taken a turn for the worst, He has been with me. I will never again walk alone in darkness, for his light is there brightly shining.
I am thinking now too of some stories I heard the other night. I got the chance to sit and talk with the missionaries to Africa I wrote about before. They see darkness shattered by light all the time. They were telling us about a man who is one of the police for one of the highest in govt. I can't remember his title, but the group of police directly beneath him are brutal. They will go into a village and rape women just to do it. He said once 30 of these men all took turns raping one woman.
This man has now became a Christian. His wife did first and was praying for him. She says he even looks different. His dark and evil actions have turned to actions of light and love. And he is sharing the the light he has found with the other men around him and they too are turning away from the darkness.
2 Samuel 22:29-31 (New International Version)
29 You are my lamp, O LORD;
the LORD turns my darkness into light.
30 With your help I can advance against a troop;
with my God I can scale a wall.
31 "As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.
Here's the rest of the chapter for today from the book:
In the darkness our fears have a tendency to multiply, failings become exaggerated, challenges seem insurmountable. We need daylight to restore our perspective.
But even the daylight holds its share of darkness. The prophet Isaiah speaks of a world covered in thick darkness. He is talking about the spiritual darkness brought on by sin. Sin, in fact, is pregnant with darkness. It gives birth to famine, war, genocide, drug addiction, child abuse, divorce, petty hatred, and even small-town gossip. Some of us have become so conditioned to the world's darkness that we've begun to call crooked things straight and good things bent. Because of sin and its attendant darkness, even the happiest life ends tragically, in a grave.
But Jesus came in order to recast our "unhappily ever after" endings, to put a stop to what had been a nonstop tragedy. He did this by confronting the darkest of our fears - by taking on death itself. Happily, as St. Paul says, death has been swallowed up in Christ's victory. Darkness has been extinguished by light. In his light we see light.
But still we fear. We tremble before life's substantial challenges - difficult marriages, problems with children, personal weaknesses, illness, financial instability. There are times when we find ourselves walking into the darkness and crying out for the light. When that happens, we need to affirm the words of the psalmist who said to our powerful God:
Psalm 139:11-12
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
Amen! Our God is what I am most thankful for today. Thankful that he is our light, our lamp, our spotlight in the dark. Thankful that Christ loved us enough to stand in our place and take the penalty for all that we have done wrong that we may be right before our great and mighty God.
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