FromDarkness to Light: Three Ways the Light Moves in
The beach is a beautiful place to watch the power of a light and darkness. The sunlight fades into darkness with colors of pink and purple dancing in the sky. The morning sun releases darkness’s hold and awakens the clouds with its orange and yellow rays. It is magical. It is in these moments we may recognize how much darkness truly surrounds us. However, there are ways to grasp hold of the light even when darkness appears to be all we have.
Darkness
There is an old game called Capture the Flag. Two teams in the dark try to get the famed flag. The team that gets it wins. I have only played this game once. I have the luxury of tripping over my own two feet in the light; so, when it came to the dark, it only took one face plant to realize that this game was not for me. There was nothing fun about the darkness! My eyes did not adjust accordingly, my feet fumbled, and my brain was calling me mean names for even trying this activity. I wish I could say my life in the dark was limited to only this game.
For most of my life I lived in a shadow before I plummeted into darkness. While I experienced glimpses of light: laughter with friends, car concerts, and accomplishments I made, they were few and far between and became fewer and further between until darkness was all there was. I was depressed, angry, grieving, and lonely. And no amount of light was penetrating the darkness. While the darkness slowly blanketed me, maybe for others it came like a quick flip of the light switch.
For some of us darkness came suddenly with no warning: the diagnosis, the divorce, the death, the job loss, etc. One minute we are dancing in the light, and the next we are fumbling trying to right ourselves in the cover of darkness. And none of it seems right or with an ending in sight. This has been the experience for many here at Lighthouse. One moment baseball games and dance recitals are the way of life and the next its hospital visits and chemo treatments. It comes so fast it seems impossible to overcome at times.
However, 1 Peter 2:9 provides some light in the midst of the darkness. It reminds us, “But you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” God is calling us toward the light no matter how deep in the darkness we are. He wants us to live in the excellencies of him, his goodness. While in the darkness, we may lose sight of this, but his goodness, his light, is always ours to have.
No matter how the darkness appeared, there is an opportunity to find God’s light again. It may come subtly, in sparks, or suddenly. And as his light appears, we find ways to adjust to a new way of life in the light.
Three Ways the Light Moves in
1) Subtly
During one of my moments in the dark, I cried out to God like David did in the Psalms. I desperately stated, “Lord, show me you in a way that I can receive you.” I knew my body, heart, and mind would not be able to receive truths of God as it once did. And in his graciousness, he provided light slowly and surely through his word, through therapy, and through others.
God was calling me into his marvelous light, but he knew I needed time to adjust. The ways in which I previously engaged God, scripture, and church were gone. Each step toward that light allowed me the opportunity to know the God of scripture rather than the one I had been told about or conjured up in my head. I had to reengage him in a new way with new sight. In this way, I could move out of the darkness into his light without being overwhelmed.
2) Sparks
In the darkness we sometimes can see the power of the light. We see the moon, stars, and fireflies. And those sparks of light allow us to remember that light is available to us. For some of us sparks in the dark may look like the smile on our child’s face, a simple touch by a loved one, receiving a friend’s encouragement, or waking up without anxiousness and depression.
These sparks are reminders that God is with us, we are his possession, he has not forgotten us. They are our hope that he is with us even in our darkest of times. As we experience these sparks, we can take hold of them so that when the darkness comes, we are able to remind ourselves that the glimmers are there. We are not without the hope of the Light.
3) Suddenly
When I would do children’s camps, one of my favorite things to do was to sing “Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory,” to the children while flicking on the light to wake them from their slumber. It was an exciting and fun moment for me, but not so much for them! They felt assaulted by the light (and possibly my singing!). Is the same not true for us?
For some of us, darkness is a way of life. It is what we know, what we are accustomed to. This may occur due to addiction, depression, or trauma. This may also happen because it was how we were raised. Light simply was not part of the equation for us. Therefore, when the light suddenly bursts in, we may be angry, frustrated, and even sad. Some of us may even grieve leaving the darkness because it is so familiar or sad because we have not known what is to live in the light. And none of this is wrong. It is simply where we are in life.
Although it may take a while to adjust to the light, we will adjust. We will have the chance to see the goodness in God calling us out from the darkness. We will have an opportunity to know what it is to be a “…chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God.” We will have a chance to enjoy the marvelous light God has called us to.
Final Thoughts
Darkness may be familiar for us and hard to give up. But light provides us so much more. In experiencing the marvelous light God has brought us into, we can experience joy, hope, truth, grace, love, and more. No matter how the light comes, know that it is ours to have. God has us in the palm of his hand ready to lead us out of the darkness, out of the turmoil into his marvelous light, his truth, his way!