Lighting the Darkness

We don’t travel far in life, until we meet people facing real darkness, dark nights of the soul, yearning for signs of light, of God’s hopeful presence and love. The darkness might be physical, emotional, or spiritual pain. Or, it might be loneliness, emptiness, worry, fear, uncertainty, and anger. Or again, it might be loss and sorrow, disappointment or regret.
We can see the darkness and hardships of life on the nightly news or the morning headlines. Sometimes it’s closer home, among our friends or their families. Sometimes it’s closer still – places of pain in our own families where it’s all too real. And sometimes, it’s even closer, on the interior of our own hearts – the pain of darkness yearning for hopeful signs of light.
What I want to say to you today is this: “No matter how hard the darkness tries in your life, it can never extinguish the light of God – a light searching for us in the darkness. No darkness of fear, loneliness, disappointment, sorrow, or sin can overcome the invincible, irrepressible light of God’s goodness and power seeking you and me.
The night is darkest just before dawn. Just when it seems the darkness of life might overcome us – when the hardships are too many, the fear too great, the pain too deep – the light shines, hope lives, and God is with us.