Dark Nights
In the UK, we have recently turned our clocks back, and as much as we now have lighter mornings, we also have darker nights.
What is it about the dark that can sometimes make us afraid? It’s because we can’t see what is around us and what is ahead. There is an element of uncertainty and it can make us feel afraid. Maybe there’s something about this Covid 19 pandemic that’s brought some darkness into this season of our lives. Darkness into our heart as well as our outlook, and we can’t yet see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Just because we can’t see things happening in these dark times, the way we do in the light, it doesn’t mean God is not working. He is with us in the darkness, and He is working in our darkness.
God does wonderful things in the darkness. Think of when a seed is planted in the soil in the garden. It is buried there underneath the darkness of the soil and that’s when beautiful things happen. There is germination. Things are bursting forth within that seed and they come into the light, they form a beautiful plant that gives you fruit or flowers, or both.
In the darkness miracles happen. Psalm 139 says that we were knit together in our mother’s womb in a secluded place in the darkness. In the mystery of that place God was working, knitting us and forming us. What a beautiful thing was happening in that dark place! You and I were being made.
We don’t need to fear the darkness because God is working there. Genesis Chapter 1 verse 1-3 tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It says that at that time, there was darkness, and the Spirit of God was at work. Then it says that God spoke into that darkness and said ‘Let there be light.’ So there was darknes, but when God’s Spirit and then God’s word and Gods voice came together, He brought light.
In the same way any darkness that we might feel right now could be setting the scene for God to do wonderful things and shine his light on us and in us. In the dark times, God is working within us, germinating dreams, ideas, hopes, and aspirations for our future. He’s planting seeds within us that will produce fruit. I pray that God would shine His light on you today. Here’s a lovely promise for you: Psalm 18 verse 28 says that ‘God will illuminate our darkness.’