Light & Dark

There is a point along the tour, at Carlsbad Caverns, NM, where they turn off all of the lights on the path and you are left with between 15 and 25 other people, standing in pitch black darkness. The kind of dark that reminds you of inkwells. The kind of dark that reminds you of Bilbo Baggins' first encounter with Gollum in "The Hobbit." The kind of darkness where you could smack yourself in the face and never even see your hand. That's darkness.

There is also a point, upon waking up, when your eyes are still adjusting to being open and any sort of light makes you squint as though you're trying to read the Bible written on a grain of sand. One time, one of my roommates opened the blinds on me while I was attempting to wake up (we were about to embark on a roadtrip to Houston / Austin) and temporarily blinded me. I wasn't able to hold my eyes open for more than 30 seconds for what seemed like forever, but was more like 10 minutes. Even afterwards, I squinted until we were outside of Winters, TX. That's light.

Isn't it great to know that God is over both of those polar opposites?

In Psalm 74v.16, the Psalmist declares, "Yours is the day, yours also the night..."

This is such an encouragement to remember. In our seasons of great brightness, as well as darkness of the soul, God is sovereign and in control. When we feel that we, even as God's children, are at the lowest point we could come to, are fed up with waiting on God, and can't see how He could possibly work our situation for His glory (or if He's even there), we must remember that God is over the darkness. There is nothing that has escaped His Divine plan. When we feel that life as we know it could not get any better, our marriages and kids are doing incredible, the money is really coming in, and we are in the best seasons of spiritual growth, we must remember that God is over the light. It's not for our comfort, but for His glory.

This particular verse just reminds me of this truth: God is in control. He works all things for His glory in accordance with His will. The seasons that we go through are similar to those that everything else goes through... budding growth, periods of abundance, hardships, bleakness and then budding growth. In the midst of all these seasons, though, is the constant glow of the hope that we cling fast to... the fact that our Saviour is risen and will never leave us nor forsake us.