Last night while huddled in bed I began to hear the trickle of rain. I looked out my window; since it was early in the evening, the walls of the world had not yet turned black; they were gray. Small puffs of mist danced eerily on the road, and a patch of fog hovered over the mountain pass as if someone had dropped a piece of batting that got caught on the tips of the pine trees. The air sagged from water. Inanimate objects such as my mailbox that were being drenched in rain seemed to say “go back to bed where it’s safe”. The muted setting elicited the same feelings that a mystery flick evokes: fear, dread, sadness, hopelessness.
Today is the perfect day. The sun showers light, as evidenced by the diagonal shadows cast on the tree trunks. The spring birds twitter to one another, the hawks caw, the green leaves flutter in the soft breeze; and butterflies lift and descend quickly, as if so elated by the new climate that they have lost all sense of direction. Purple flowers peek through the water-logged soil and the foliage surrounding them is vividly green, almost as if it were computer-generated.
Yesterday’s backdrop was clouds, which foreshadowed the evening rain; today, it’s sunlight and warmth. Yesterday, I was brooding about things that won’t change and was terrified of the future. Today, feelings of confidence and hope return. Circumstances rarely change overnight; why the drastic difference in one’s outlook in less than twenty-four hours? Light.
Researchers show that we have an improved mood and a greater propensity to take risks in sun-lit weather. Something in us is drawn to illumination. To be in the dark scares us; makes us feel uneasy. In blackness, problems seem larger than life. In the light, they lose their ferocity. We were created to crave light. Perhaps this is why God calls Himself the Light. He knows we need it to have hope and to dispel our fears.
In Psalm 139, David speaks about God’s ubiquity; of the magnitude and reach of His presence.
In verses 11 & 12 he talks specifically about God’s nearness in the dark.
“Then I say to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
Night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.”
Psalm 139:1-12 (The Message)
God says that night and day are the same to Him. Did you hear this? Night and day are the same to Him. In the night – in the dark -He’s immersed in the light.
I think this truth is loaded with meaning and offers us more solace than we often realize. In Psalm 139, David opens in verse 1 by asking God to “investigate” Him, and continues to tell us, by letting us peek in on his prayer, about His intimate knowledge of us and His nearness to us at all times and in all places; even in darkness. Certainly this means that we cannot hide from Him. The fact that we cannot, in a weak moment, choose to take off on a plane to an island far away from the One who loves us the most is really quite a comfort. But could this fact – that darkness and light are no different to Him – also tell us something about His vantage point; the way He sees things? I think it does.
A giant problem you or I face makes us feel like we are walking in the dark – for days, week, or even years. But to God, that same situation is staged in sunlight. To Him, it’s a 75 degree day. The birds are chirping and flowers are diffusing their fragrance; He is full of confidence. To Him, it is not dark, because He illuminates. Imagine how that giant problem would seem if brilliant sunlight were cast on it; if it were in the context of a hopeful spring day. Not quite as overwhelming. This is the true nature of all of our problems with His luminescence. They are much smaller than they seem; minimized by the ambience of yellow light and blossoming. The added comfort we are being offered in David’s words is this: We are being cared by the One who is with us as much in our darkness as in our light. And He doesn’t lose heart in the dark like we do. His vision of our lives – even with their messes, problems, failures, and inadequacies- isn’t skewed by gray skies; He sees them crystal-clearly, as they really are – lives filled with hope and with chances (that we call problems) for Him to show us what He can do with all of the power and resources of the world at his disposal.
The forecast for tomorrow warns of winds and rain – that is, for me. To God, it looks like it’s going to be another gorgeous day – mid-70’s, blue sky, gentle breeze. When I huddle in bed listening to the sound of rain, I’ll imagine what the world must look like from the vantage point of the Light of the Night.
Today is the perfect day. The sun showers light, as evidenced by the diagonal shadows cast on the tree trunks. The spring birds twitter to one another, the hawks caw, the green leaves flutter in the soft breeze; and butterflies lift and descend quickly, as if so elated by the new climate that they have lost all sense of direction. Purple flowers peek through the water-logged soil and the foliage surrounding them is vividly green, almost as if it were computer-generated.
Yesterday’s backdrop was clouds, which foreshadowed the evening rain; today, it’s sunlight and warmth. Yesterday, I was brooding about things that won’t change and was terrified of the future. Today, feelings of confidence and hope return. Circumstances rarely change overnight; why the drastic difference in one’s outlook in less than twenty-four hours? Light.
Researchers show that we have an improved mood and a greater propensity to take risks in sun-lit weather. Something in us is drawn to illumination. To be in the dark scares us; makes us feel uneasy. In blackness, problems seem larger than life. In the light, they lose their ferocity. We were created to crave light. Perhaps this is why God calls Himself the Light. He knows we need it to have hope and to dispel our fears.
In Psalm 139, David speaks about God’s ubiquity; of the magnitude and reach of His presence.
In verses 11 & 12 he talks specifically about God’s nearness in the dark.
“Then I say to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I’m immersed in the light!”
It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
Night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.”
Psalm 139:1-12 (The Message)
God says that night and day are the same to Him. Did you hear this? Night and day are the same to Him. In the night – in the dark -He’s immersed in the light.
I think this truth is loaded with meaning and offers us more solace than we often realize. In Psalm 139, David opens in verse 1 by asking God to “investigate” Him, and continues to tell us, by letting us peek in on his prayer, about His intimate knowledge of us and His nearness to us at all times and in all places; even in darkness. Certainly this means that we cannot hide from Him. The fact that we cannot, in a weak moment, choose to take off on a plane to an island far away from the One who loves us the most is really quite a comfort. But could this fact – that darkness and light are no different to Him – also tell us something about His vantage point; the way He sees things? I think it does.
A giant problem you or I face makes us feel like we are walking in the dark – for days, week, or even years. But to God, that same situation is staged in sunlight. To Him, it’s a 75 degree day. The birds are chirping and flowers are diffusing their fragrance; He is full of confidence. To Him, it is not dark, because He illuminates. Imagine how that giant problem would seem if brilliant sunlight were cast on it; if it were in the context of a hopeful spring day. Not quite as overwhelming. This is the true nature of all of our problems with His luminescence. They are much smaller than they seem; minimized by the ambience of yellow light and blossoming. The added comfort we are being offered in David’s words is this: We are being cared by the One who is with us as much in our darkness as in our light. And He doesn’t lose heart in the dark like we do. His vision of our lives – even with their messes, problems, failures, and inadequacies- isn’t skewed by gray skies; He sees them crystal-clearly, as they really are – lives filled with hope and with chances (that we call problems) for Him to show us what He can do with all of the power and resources of the world at his disposal.
The forecast for tomorrow warns of winds and rain – that is, for me. To God, it looks like it’s going to be another gorgeous day – mid-70’s, blue sky, gentle breeze. When I huddle in bed listening to the sound of rain, I’ll imagine what the world must look like from the vantage point of the Light of the Night.
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