“If I say,‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You” (Psalm 139:11-12).
About twenty years ago, I went through a very dark and discouraging time in my life. I was literally afraid of the dark. I was so fearful to be alone at night that I would walk the floors until the wee hours of the morning. Finally, when dawn would break, I would lie down and go to sleep. One particular night, I had gone as far as I could, and I knew I couldn’t live in torment anymore. I took my Bible and went into my little bathroom, so I wouldn’t wake up my girls. I told God that I didn’t know what I was going to do, or what He was going to do, but something had to change. I opened my Bible and this scripture seemed to jump off the page like a neon light. It dawned on me that I trusted God in the daylight, but I didn’t trust Him in the dark. He reminded me through His Word that the dark doesn’t hide from Him. He’s the same in darkness or light. I was set free from that very moment to this.
The darkness is absolutely helpless to fight against the light. It loses its power to make me feel lonely and hidden beneath its shroud of blackness. I feel so much better when I see the light break through, because it feels like I get a new opportunity to start again. I’ve spent time sitting on the beautiful beaches of amazing oceans watching the sunrise. I’ve also pulled a chair outside and sat in the driveway to watch a sunrise. No matter where I sit to watch, it’s amazing to see the light break through the darkness of a coal black, cloudless sky.The shadows are all
dispelled. The orange glow that surrounds the rising sun is breathtaking.
The Word of God speaks often of light—God’s light. Often, our lives seem to be shrouded in darkness. It hovers over us. If there is a light at the end of the tunnel, we can’t see it, but God has “night vision.” He knows that all the things we are afraid of in the dark are not really what we think they are.We stumble around bumping into things that seem to be so gigantic that we can’t get around or over them. These things are made to seem worse because of the shadows they cast. Even the tiniest things are made to appear larger than they really are. Life is managed much easier in the light, because we can see the way more clearly. We just have to keep trusting Him until the long night is ended, then we can look out over the horizon and view the beautiful sunrise again.
