Many years ago, my mother and I returned from a shopping trip to discover that the side door to our house was unlocked. To my young mind that meant only one thing-burglars had broken in and were hiding in the basement waiting to attack us! I wouldn’t enter the house until my mom descended to the basement to make sure that the coast was clear. My youthful reasoning perceived darkness, oblivious to the shadowing protection of God’s hand ( and my mother’s probable failure to lock the door in the first place).
Even as experienced adults, darkness often seems evil and threatening when viewed from our finite perspective. However, the view from God’s infinite perspective is quite refreshing. In Isaiah 51:16, the prophet wrote: “I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand.”
In his book The Upside of Adversity, Os Hillman tells us that darkness teaches us to: shape our character to be conformed to Christ’s image (Romans 8:29), identify with Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:10, 1 Peter 4:13), and prepare for the ministry He has planned for us.
As we emerge from our time of darkness, we are able to receive the light of God’s promise. As Bible teacher F.B. Meyer has observed; “The night is the time to see the stars.”
We need to affirm, as singer Don Moen reflects in the following video, that:
“God is good all the time
Through the darkest night
His light will shine.”
