The Darkness Has Not Overcome

Light is everywhere. A candle. The sun and all her starry companions. The flicker of street lamps on the rain-slick pavement. A lightbulb and the sparks of electricity that power it. A neon sign. The television screen or the flashlight on our phones.

You love the light, don’t you? I know I do.

Children love light because darkness is what the monsters are made of. When the light comes, shadows flee back under the beds from whence they came. When light floods the dark, you can hear every frightened soul gasp in unison. Light is here. We are safe. The rapid heartbeat starts to slow. The shaking limbs become strong once more.

The figments of childhood follow us into adulthood. On a dark street, we glance over our shoulders to catch a glimpse of the creature that might stalk us. We quicken our pace until we make it to the lighted window of the gas station and slip inside to shake off the shadow. We clasp a cup of lukewarm coffee in our cold, stiff hands and pray for day to come.

We fear what the dark conceals.

What is concealed fears the light.

The light fears nothing, for it cannot be overcome.

What of the clouds that slip across the sun, someone might ask? What of those?

Well, answer this. What if everyone quailed whenever a cloud obscured the light and wept because they thought the sun was gone forever? How foolish of them, for the sun is still there beyond the storm. Yet that is how some treat the light. They think the darkness is so much more powerful when it is not.

Darkness conceals. That is why we fear it. We shun the unknown because it is unknown. The rustle in the bushes might be a bear, or it might be a rabbit. The shadow walking behind you might be a thief, or it might be another wanderer whose errand is as innocent as yours.

Darkness conceals

where the enemy is

who the enemy is

how many enemies there are

how strong the enemies are

and

where the escape is.

It is why there are big red signs spelling EXIT over the doors that lead out of a building. In a crisis, when all goes dark, imagine the chaos if no one could find the way out. Similarly, you do not go exploring in a cave without a headlamp, multiple flashlights, and extra batteries. You do not want to be lost in the dark.

So why is it that some people thrive in darkness?

Because it conceals their deeds. It is easier to get away with something in the dark. Shadows whisper comfortingly. Though darkness claims to be a refuge, it is really a hollow home. A prison cell so dark that you cannot see the door standing open with freedom beckoning beyond.

Light is everywhere. We carry light with us into the dark. It illuminates and unveils the dreadful unknown. Yet some find darkness safer than light and ignorance more pleasing than revelation.

Some people fight the dark. They know the shadow is wrong.

Some embrace it. When light threatens to uncover their doings, they swiftly hide away in their grimy hovels.

Some of you, perhaps, have homes in the dark. Each of us did, once. But in the end, all must make a choice.

To break free from the darkness and let sunrise spill across the landscape of your bruised and battered heart

or

To retreat away into your hollow home,

your barren cell,

your dead man’s tomb,

your empty shell,

Cringing with disgust when beams of light stain your shadowed hands

Becoming like the monsters you fear so much

Lost forever in a prison of your own choosing

Lost forever in

Darkness.

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The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.
- John 1:5, NLT

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
- John 3:19-20, NIV

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
- John 8:12, NKJV

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
- 1 John 1:6-7, NASB

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