May 24 - Psalm 139:11-12

May 24 - 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. 

It is dark in the country.  I mean DARK!  On nights when the clouds hide the moon and stars, the darkness is overwhelming.  Driving on country roads at night, with no lights except my headlights cutting through the darkness can be a little scary.

One night I came up to the cabin late after a choir rehearsal.  I opened the back of my Jeep and was beginning to grab things to take inside.  Just as I reached for the second bag, I heard strange animal sounds. They were loud and they were close!  I dropped everything back into the Jeep, slammed the door, ran inside, slammed the main door and decided that unpacking could just wait until morning.

Mom, Dad, Jim and I went to Canada in 1982.  We drove as far as the road would take us (the dirt road that kept going went into an Indian encampment. The guys came out every morning in their pickup trucks to get to work).  Camping with my father was a terrific experience.  He made sure that everyone was comfortable.  He and Jim pitched the tent and set up the entire camp.

We were far enough north that it never really got dark.  In fact, Mom and I were able to read without additional light until 3 am.  However, it was dark enough in the woods behind our campground that she and I chose to NOT sleep in the tent with Jim and Dad.  We preferred the safety of the van’s metal walls.  When Dad and Jim told us about the wolves snuffling around their tent and then showed us the pawprints, we were thankful for those metal walls and stayed in the van the rest of the week.

Darkness exposes our fears.  We think that it hides our inconsistencies and flaws, but what really happens in darkness is that little fears become immense and threaten to overtake our sanity.

We worry when our children are afraid of the dark, but many of us are just as fearful when the lights go out and we can’t see things as they really are.  I don’t mind having a nightlight burning or lights from the computer (not the monitors – hate that), or power bricks.  Those small flickers of light are enough to guide me when I wake up in the middle of the night.

The greatest darkness we find ourselves in can be fear or sin or hatred or sorrow.  There is no electrical solution to combat those fears, but there is a promise we have from God.  He brings light into darkness.  When He created the world, the first thing he created was light (Genesis 1:3).  When all is said and done, and the Lord walks among us, the sun and moon will no longer be needed because the glory of the Lord will bring light and the Lamb will be its lamp (Revelation 21:23).

God is light and in him there is no darkness.  Now – imagine the brightness of that light as He stands in the darkness of your heart.  God brings light into darkness.

This is a promise.