“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)
God has always been the light of the world, but it was through His Son, born as an infant, to live as a man among us, who brought the light of God to the whole world. He opened the door for all of us to have access to God, the Father. Before that, our sin was a barrier between us and God. All who receive His atonement and abide in Him, are walking in His light. It may seem at times in our lives, that we are in darkness, but His light is always with us and in us.
For God, the darkness and light are alike to Him. He created the sun and moon for our sake. In heaven there is no need for sun or moon, because Heaven is always brightly lit from the illuminating presence of God. (Revelation 21:23)
We hear so much about Jesus being the light of the world, but I think it’s easy to roll right past that phrase and miss a deeper meaning that God is trying to reveal.
If we are trusting in Jesus, He brings us into His light, and we no longer dwell in darkness. Dwelling in darkness means not knowing which way to turn. It means trying to navigate which way to go, like searching for the door in a dark room. Jesus said “I am the way,” and He also said “I am the door.”
When we feel we are in a dark place, He is our door and shows us the way, as He readily holds our hand.
Today, I am thinking of when He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
(John 8:12)
Jesus said whoever follows Him will have the gift of walking in His light. Since He is the light, He lights up our dark paths and navigates for us. He holds our hand and walks us through the door and His light brings us warmth and comfort, even in the worst situations. Our access to all these benefits comes through the blood of His cross. He was sent as God’s gift to us, and a gift is ours when it is received.
In 2006 I was working in a hospital, with a group of neurosurgeons, a team of four brilliant, honest and good men. I had been in my eighth year of working with them in surgery, at the time. I remember I had a
“Coworker prayer list of names”, and I used to pray regularly for these surgeons, as well as any doctors and coworkers who were a part of my daily work routine.
Every year there was a neurosurgical resident who did his residency under the instruction and supervision of this team of surgeons. I vaguely remember the young residents, since they all came and went over a period of months, but I do know that they all learned from the best.
In September of this year, I received the news that my adult son was in a serious motorcycle accident on a highway, in the suburb he lived in.
He suffered a skull fracture on the left side, with bleeding on both sides of his brain. The neurosurgeon on call for the hospital that day, carefully removed the blood as well as the bone that was embedded in the left side of Jon’s brain.
This all took place in a hospital 20 miles away, where the accident occurred. The surgeon on call who did his surgery was the same man who did his residency in 2006, at my hospital, who learned from the surgeon team that I knew and worked with. Seventeen years later, that resident was now a surgeon who practiced in his own group, but he was the only one in his group, who trained under the surgeons I worked with for 25 years.
I don’t think it was a coincidence that he was the one on call that day. In the middle of such traumatic events, God was shining His light in the darkness, through the timing of having that surgeon on call for that hospital, that day. After surgery, he told me that he was surprised Jon did as well as he did. He didn’t expect much, since upon arrival, it didn’t look like Jon would make it through surgery.
The light overpowers the darkness, and whatever we do to abide in God’s light, will come back to shine for us according to God’s perfect timing. For God, there is no darkness, and if we keep following Him, we’ll discover that He has been shining His light on us, even during those times that seem very dark.
Jon woke up from a coma two weeks later, his pupils are reactive, and he moves 3 out of 4 limbs. He is currently awake but not responsive, and living in a nursing facility twenty minutes from my home, with a long road for recovery. It’s not a dark road though, because Jesus has been shining His light of hope and faith in everything from the start.
In whatever kind of darkness we feel we are in, the light of Jesus is shining. If we keep investing our hope and trust in Him, we will reap the benefit of His light shining for us just when we need it most. For God there is no darkness, only light, and when we follow Jesus, we will never walk in darkness, but have His light shining in our life.
Lord, help us all to follow you, and to know that your light is shining on us. We thank you and put all our trust in you, the light of the world, who has opened the door of our access to God, through the blood of your cross. Amen