Darkness

I have been traveling with the brake light warning for sometime and figured I better go ahead and take my car in while I had a quiet week. So yesterday morning I took it in and was given a loaner for the day. No adverse adventure to this story so up front I don’t want you to be tying to figure out what could have happened. I had not heard from the service department all day and finally around 4, I figured I better just check, because from my house to Sugar Land in 5:00 traffic would need a little planning. Ended up that they had gotten busy and not yet gotten to it even for an estimate.  So when they called back, I said I really would rather turn this loaner in today and get my car back.  No problem, it would be ready at 7:00. So I took it in daylight and retrieved in in the dark.  

All this to say that things look so different at night than they do in the day.  Things seem to be highlighted in the darkness that are not noticed in the daylight. This morning, upon quiet reflection of yesterdays events, I was reminded of this and the Lord put it on my heart to think a little further on it.  Light and darkness.  Jesus Christ is the light of this world, we know that.  And when the bible speaks of darkness it is referring to those who do not know Christ and who are living in darkness.  But just to take a different spin on this, one that is not so theological, we get hit by darkness, not as unbelievers, but through adversities, death, tragedies, health issues, broken relationships, down and out circumstances etc.  As I was going over the overpass from Beltway 8 to 59, at a turtles’ rate of speed, I couldn’t help but notice the lights in the middle of the darkness. There was a little magic to them as they flickered and spotlighted different areas of interest, landmarks, and signage to help folks find their way. 

It occurred to me this morning, that when we are immersed in the darkness of adversity, God has a tendency to spotlight things that we may not have noticed in the light of our days. Our faith becomes stronger, our awareness becomes more alert, we tend to hear things that worldly chatter had caused interference with, and we are more apt to be drawn to the light that flickers about us.  I have found that so many times in my deepest darkness, it is then in those very times that God spotlights himself and his presence. We have all traveled on lonesome roads at night when there is not hardly a light in sight except maybe in the far distance.  It is not only quiet but also becomes a very isolated feeling.  Then as you get closer to the city, even as the darkness prevails,  the lights kind of brighten your perspective. That is the way it is with God, darkness can be an isolated thing until we get closer to God, and that is when His light brings about hope and perspective through our faith. 

Darkness isn’t so lonely and scary when God’s light shines upon it and within it. And when we are called to travel along those roads of darkness, I am convinced through my own travels that God’s light does flicker about and he will help us to find our way through it and  sprinkle us as we go with His deep seeded love and protection.  There are surely lessons of faith and trust  that we learn in the darkness that might be overlooked in the light of day. 

So next time you are traveling about at night, take time to enjoy the lights that are about you; for the lights make the cities come alive.

And it is God’s light that brings life back into a darkened soul. 

2 Corinthians 4:6

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 God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 

Psalm 139:10-12

even there your hand will guide me,  your right hand will hold me fast. 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.

Dear Lord, Your light does shine always but so often we are more desperate to find it in our darkness. Give us hope and endurance and perspective that outshines our darkness and help us to remember that wherever we are or whatever has come upon us, you were there first and will help us through it.  Amen                   

 

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!