We had an unexpected power failure last night. Dan and I were just about ready to sit down to dinner when the lights blipped  off and then on,  once, twice and then a  third time.  From past experience we knew this outage would last for hours which it did. Dan found several flashlights, lit the oil lamp while I located a few candles left over from  holidays. We ate our dinner in soft candle glow which gave sufficient light for both food and doing dishes. Afterwards we played a few hands of cards, squinting to make out the red or black markings on the face cards.  It was harder to focus in the semi darkness – and with ageing eyes – so  after  two hands we quit. Now what? It was barely past seven. Dan read his latest biographical tome (this one on Mao) by slipping a biking headlight over his cowboy hat. That picture was really worth a thousand words! I hunkered on the couch next to an LED lamp with my nose in a book.  However, Dan and I went to bed pretty early.

As I blew out the candles and switched off the battery powered  devices, the house fell into darkness black as pitch.  Usually I can see well enough during the night hours from all the ambient light coming from electronics or from the neighbors or with lingering light in the sky. Last night there was none of that. The moon and stars were  obscured  by clouds, no neighboring porches were lit and our house had unbroken darkness . It felt very odd not to see my fingers right in front of my face. Odd, disorienting and disconcerting. Once in Carlsbad Caverns, I had a similar experience when the guide  briefly switched off the cave’s light while we were thousands of feet below the ground. The sudden momentary darkness was different, like an atmosphere that had dimension. It wouldn’t  take long to get lost in it.

We moderns, especially in Western countries , do not have to face prolonged darkness very often. I knew Idaho Power’s linemen were out in the cold fixing the problem. I trusted that the house lights would return and I could  safely go to sleep next to Dan. I didn’t have to peer into the darkness groping my way for very long. But what if we did?  

What if we could truly see into this atmospheric “otherdarkness” which grows daily and envelopes us like a shroud? I’m not speaking of God’s natural darkness which falls blessedly on the earth every 24 hours, but of  spiritual darkness.  Jesus often warned of this darkness;

Then watch out that the light in you is not darkness.

What would our eyes see but sin in the form of human fear, violence, blood lust, hatred, perversity, rebellion  and every evil man is capable of growing in tsunami proportions. Might we have eyes to discern the spiritual forces, the principalities and powers of the air who rule there?

I believe if we could see what lurks outside of Christ’s light, mortal  terror would stop our hearts and we’d finally get down on our stubborn knees and call out to  God whom we’ve blasphemed and ask for Jesus whose saving Light has been spurned. Some believe it is already too late. The “end of the age”  seems to be accelerating at warp speed. Can any rational citizen look at this year of 2020 and not be aware that things are very, very upside down and not ask, how did this happen?

It happens because man’s unredeemed heart without Christ’s light is sinful and evil. It happens because we’ve abandoned the basics: the Ten Commandments and  Two Great Commandments and are perverting  Christ’s teachings. It happens because we’ve turned off the only power source of life, God our Father. We have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. It’s happening because men still prefer the darkness to the light, even as John wrote in his Gospel. It happens because we do not recognize that Satan, the Prince of Darkness, detests the children of God who are to be children of light. It happens because believers are complacent, accepting “temporary” power outages instead of going out to be the Lord’s linemen. It happens because like moles, we don’t even know  that when we come out of  the burrows  we inhabit, we’ve become blind. .

Nevertheless, I am hopeful because God  has given us Christ who sustains us.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John 8:12

 I am hopeful that God hears the prayers of His faithful and that He hasn’t  taken away His lovingkindness toward us.

Light arises in the darkness for the upright; He is gracious and compassionate and righteous. Psalm 112:4

For the sake of family and loved ones, I remain  hopeful that last night’s  experience during a natural power glitch is no yet sign of much worse to come.

The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these. Isaiah 45:7

Hope rises when we look not into the heart of darkness, but unto Jesus.  We’re commanded  to share the Gospel of salvation to the lost, the broken,  to the impoverished and powerless. We are Christ’s disciples and  His linemen, responding  to the darkness, to people disconnected from  the Lord, the  only power source. We share the Gospel not to “fix” anyone  but to reveal God’s  power and glory in Christ.

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2.Cointhians 4:6