The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2

Last night we had a power outage. Unlike those often caused by storms, this one was planned by Idaho Power who gave us the information ahead of time so that they could upgrade their service. Power would be shut off from 10:00 p.m. for several hours. Since I’m usually in bed reading at that time, I prepared with an industrial sized flashlight to read by (didn’t help) and my trusty phone light which illuminated the book quite nicely. At precisely ten o’clock, the house went completely dark. All the ambient lights, the computers, microwaves, appliances, stair lights, clocks, ceiling fans and furnace blower shut down. It was silent as well as dark and a little disorienting when I had to get up. We forget how much light we have, even at night because we’re almost never in complete inky blackness. I experienced that once while a mile deep inside Carlsbad Caverns when our tour guide turned off the lights. The darkness was so deep and thick, it felt like it had form.

The last months have driven us into cavernous darkness deeper than any we’ve ever known. Listen to the news, any news, and one’s heart is crushed by how quickly we’re sliding into an abyss. Everything I believe about morality and justice and truth and goodness seems to be under attack. The current anti- police protest, i.e., rebellion against law and order, is the visible symptom of rebellion against God’s laws and God’s order for this world. We’ve thrown out the Ten Commandments and now practice “freedom” from all restraints, from all ethical and moral plumb lines. The world kneels before the Self, god of this and all other ages ( ever since Lucifer refused to bow down to God) which it’s erected at the entrance of Satan’s personal domain, a lightless, suffocating cave.

Thousands of years ago, Isaiah warned in similar circumstances because the people had no light in them. They sought the occult, not the word of God.
Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.8:22

The prophet then offered the ever wayward Israelites the beautiful promise of Messiah who would not leave them in gloom and distress.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2

The promise is fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus. Read the first chapters of John and be struck by the ongoing theme of Light in darkness. In John, the Greek word for “light” is phos for illumination or enlightenment and John echoes the first Word spoken by God in Genesis: Let there be Light and there was Light. Jesus was the Word in the beginning, with God and of God. His life is the light of men which shines in the darkness of all ages and times. The darkness of this present 21st century has no power to distinguish Christ’s Light no matter how often it throws us into the shadows. The Word says, “the darkness cannot comprehend, (that is overcome), it. Darkness has no substance of its own and no separate reality. It is the absence of light and if absence exists only in context with something else, then Jesus’ Light will always shine into any void, if we accept Him.

Interestingly, Jesus performed two astounding miracles in front of “caves”: the calling out of Lazarus from the tomb and the healing of the demonized man in the caves of Gadarenes. The linchpin of our faith is Christ’s resurrection from the tomb, His light/life overcoming the darkness of death. Jesus is victorious over all and every cave in front of us.

The world needs us as believing Christians to be children of light, not giving an inch of Christ’s victory to the powers of darkness. Let our fervent, trusting prayer be to the One whom Isaiah named with royal, divine and holy appellations: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,”

To those worrying, fretting and fearful about the times and the seasons, “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”Ephesians 5:14