Sunday, July 20, 2014
Reading for today: 2 Chronicles 27; Isaiah 9-12 

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined ." Isaiah 9:2
This passage of scripture jumped out at me as I was reading it. It is familiar because Jesus quotes it, and it is often used at Christmas time.
Darkness is something that we often fear. I have to leave a light on at night when my grandson stays with us, because he can’t sleep if it is dark. The problem with darkness is that you can’t see. It’s easy to run into furniture or a wall, in darkness there is the “unknown” factor. And what we don’t know – brings around fear.
I remember one time, when we lived out in the country and the power was off, so there was no lights on anywhere and it was so pitch-black, I truly stumbled my way into the house. Darkness can be a very scary place.
We use the term darkness as expressions of hopelessness and uncertainty. Sin and death are depicted as darkness.
The people of Isaiah's day knew darkness – the Assyrians and Babylonians would attack Israel and Judah and destroy them and then carry them off into captivity. This was a terrible time. Not only was there destruction and war and famine and bloodshed, but there was also a crisis of faith for the Israelites. Where was God? Where were His promises? What about the promises to Abraham? What about the great exodus, where God lead His people to the promise land and fought for them? What about the promises made to King David that his house would reign forever? Now all of this was being taken away from them. Just as we talked about in yesterday’s blog, there is a famine of God’s Word in the land… Dark days… And they are going to be carried off into exile, losing their identity, having to live in a land as foreigners. Dark days.
But God’s promise doesn’t end in darkness. For at the end of all our dark days, what ever they might look like… loss of job, serious illness, family breakups, loved ones dying… we have the light of Christ available to shine on us. To illuminate the path that we must walk.
John 8:12 says, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
Blessings
PK