"For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness." Psalms 18:28
For a short season of my life, this verse became one of my favorites. I recently read a poem from an Indian martyr that said this:
Truly, living with God is glorious
The darker the night - the closer the dawn
The darker the clouds, the more plentiful the life-giving rains
The narrower the way, the more of God's unlimited help
The greater the troubles, the more the comfort from God
Though the waves get higher, this can never disturb the calms of the depths
Though the storm is violent, it cannot displace the mountain
Those who trust in the Lord are like mountains that cannot be shaken
The person who lives in the shadow of the Almighty will never be disturbed by the heat.
How true that really is! From the beginning of time, one of the beautiful patterns that God has set in place that we, his children, can take hope in is that darkness gives birth to light.
Recently, I've been reading through the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and it has been amazing to see the way that God has brought light out of their darkness - even just in the smallest of ways. Abraham lost faith in God quite a few times (ex. Gen. 12; Gen 20); his wife, Sarah, laughed when she was told she would have a baby in her old age; yet God provided and Abraham and Sarah had a son. Isaac went through a literal darkness - blindness - and was deceived by his younger son for his blessing; but Isaac's family did not fall apart, and God built an inheritance through Jacob to become Israel. And Jacob, quite frankly, was a mess. He lied, was lied to, had multiple wives that fought with one another for favor in his eyes, constantly relied in his own strength instead of God's promises, disobeyed the voice of the Lord about going to Bethel, watched his daughter get raped in the land of his disobedience and his sons commit murder - and eventually, with all his favoritism, disobedience, and trust in his own strength - he almost lost his youngest, most precious, son - Joseph. Yet somehow, through all of this.. well.. crap... God sustained Jacob and turned him into a great nation.
God turns darkness into light. Cloudy seasons into understanding. Stormy times into peaceful victories. The days of Jewish captivity resulted in the birth of the world's Messiah. The death on the cross turned into resurrection unto eternal life. There is a promise that these last, dark days will someday turn into the millennial kingdom and eventually the New Jerusalem. Truly, I have only begun to understand the smallest parts of God's promises towards me, but I know this for sure: God has turned darkness into light in multiple occasions.
This is no deep truth; nor is it a lesson you have probably not heard before. But read through the Bible, and look at all the ways God turns darkness into light - starting in Genesis one with creation - and be encouraged that God's plan for you is ultimately one that breaks forth into understanding and blessing! If you find yourself in a season of confusion right now, a season of doubt, or a season of war - know this simple truth: that God will enlighten our darkness!
"For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God?" Psalms 18:31
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