“Even darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.”
Psalm 139:12 (NASB)
For God, the darkness and light are alike. He created the sun and moon for us here and now, but the book of Revelation tells us that in heaven there is no need for sun or moon, because Heaven is always brightly lit from the illuminating presence of God.
We know Jesus is the light of the world, but we have heard it so much that it’s easy to roll right past that phrase and miss a deeper meaning that God is trying to reveal. By calling Himself the light of the world, Jesus shines a light on us in a special way, when we feel like only darkness is surrounding us. Dwelling in darkness means not knowing which way to turn, or the uneasy sense of not knowing what will come next. It’s any experience where we feel like we’re searching for the doorknob in a pitch dark room.
Jesus called Himself the door as well as the light, because He lights our path and leads us through the door of renewed hope. We can put our trust in Him, as He give us a sign that He is right there, constantly beside us, navigating our way.
In 2006, I felt privileged to work with a neurosurgeon group of four very brilliant, honest and good men. At that time it was my eighth year of working in surgery as a neurologic monitoring technologist at the hospital I retired from in 2023.
Before going to work, in those days, I used to pray for my coworkers, making a prayer list of doctors and nurses’ names, who were a part of my daily work routine. There were neurosurgical residents who would come and go, months at a time to learn under the instruction and supervision of this team of surgeons.
I vaguely remember those residents since they would come and go every year. One young man who did his neurosurgery rotation back in 2006, was an excellent resident, spoken well of by all the surgeons. I never thought I would meet that same young resident again, but seventeen years later, he was the neurosurgeon on call for a hospital 20 miles away, where my son’s motorcycle accident happened in 2023.
When I first received the news that Jon was in a serious motorcycle accident on I-94 and suffered a skull fracture with bleeding on both sides of his brain, I headed straight to the hospital, wondering who his surgeon would be. It was an emergency surgery and the neurosurgeon on call that day, was the same man I remembered as a resident back in 2006. He was now an experienced attending physician in a group of his own, practicing at that suburban hospital.
The surgery took three hours as he carefully removed the blood as well as pieces of bone embedded in his brain matter. Talk about going through the darkness, it felt dark enough when I first received the news, but even darker, while waiting three hours until the surgery finished. The ray of light was in learning who his surgeon was.
When I was introduced briefly before surgery, I recognized his name. My memory went back to those years prior, and I remembered that he was one of their best residents. Now he was the neurosurgeon on call that day, which is no coincidence. In the middle of such a traumatic day, the Lord shined His light through the darkness, as if to say,
“I am here, it’s all going to be Ok.”
After surgery, the surgeon told me that he was surprised Jon did as well as he did. Due to the severity of his head injury, he wasn’t sure that Jon would make it through surgery.
For God, there is no darkness, and if we cling to Him, His light pierces the darkness, and gives us a sign that He is with us. That sign came to me in recognizing the surgeon on call that day was the same outstanding resident I knew of seventeen years ago.
Jon woke up from a coma two weeks later, with reactive pupils and moving 3 out of 4 limbs. He was awake with a tracheostomy to breathe through his neck, was fed through a stomach tube and still unable to walk. It’s been three years since the accident and though it has been a long road of recovery, it is not a dark road. Jesus has been shining His light from the beginning. Today, Jon breathes on his own, walks on his own, feeds himself, nods, smiles, recognizes family photos, enjoys looking at animal and baby videos, and is starting to talk.
Whatever kind of darkness we may feel like we are in, a small ray of light is trying to shine through, and it gets brighter over time. Jesus is that light as well as the door to our renewed hope. As we invest our trust in Him, we reap the benefit of Him lighting the path that we journey on. We never have to reach out and grasp in the darkness, because He is right there holding our hand all the way.
Lord, help us to know that your light is shining on us, and thank you for being the light of the world, who opens doors that renew our hope through the blood of your cross. Amen
