light over darkness

(photos taken from our front porch at sunset, just before dark.)

My oldest is afraid of the dark.  She won’t go down the hall to her bedroom, whether day or night, without turning on the light.  Don’t tell her I told you, because I think she might be embarrassed.

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I had this crazy idea that I would read the gospel of John while we were on vacation at the beach a few weeks ago.

And it wasn’t a crazy idea because I didn’t know if I would find time to read.  Oh, I read.

But I got stuck on the very first day.  I read the first five verses and stopped.  I thought.  and I read again. and I repeated that routine for 30 minutes.

Do you know what verse 5 of John chapter 1 says?

The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out. (Contemporary English Version)

The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;  the darkness couldn’t put it out. (the Message)

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.  (New Living Translation)

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (New King James Version)

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When I was my daughter’s age, I was afraid of the dark.  In fact, I had a nightlight in my room until an embarrassingly late age.

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These days I’ve outgrown my fear of the dark, in a physical sense.  But, sometimes I have a different, more intense fear now.  It’s fear of the dark, darkness that’s caused by sin- a fear of how this world is carrying on – that maybe this thick cloud is going to close in around us.  And worse, I have to admit there’s this fear that creeps in; a fear that the very Light that is shining in my heart, the Holy Spirit himself, more and more is being diminished.

All you have to do is watch the news for roughly five minutes for fears like this to be ignited.  Terrorists bombing.  Predators violating.  Economy failing.  and those fears, they can quickly turn into a roaring flame within moments.  That is, if you don’t know those words from John 1:5.

The darkness can not extinguish the Light.

It can’t.  It won’t.  Ever.

And that same Light, while I was on vacation trying to read the book of John, shone this truth so brightly into my heart that I can’t forget it.   Even this fear of mine has been overcome by the Light, proving the very words of John.

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Heavenly Father,  Thank you for the Words of Life that you have pressed so evidently into my heart in a permanent fashion.  Help me to remember there is no need to fear because You are present in me.   And that I can show my daughter how to live without fear too, trusting in You, our inextinguishable, undefeatable God!  amen