The clich? says that it is darkest just before the dawn. New light is almost here but it for those caught in the bleak darkness of a long night each moment seems to be a lifetime.
The fight seems as close as the experience a moment ago. Driving in the early hours of the morning, fighting to stay awake; the emotional baggage of the hours before still hanging off my shoulder and every part of my body wanted to sleep. I probably wanted to give up as well, but sleep would do. It was as if I had already lost a battle and the fatigue just would not leave. No matter what I tried nothing seemed to work. The darkness, the looming silence of my heart, and seemingly absence of hope all combined to make the situation bleak.
There were days that I didn’t survive the process intact. One of my car’s doors reflected a close encounter with a guard rail. The emotional and physical strain weakened the immune system and the body suffered. Fortunately nobody was injured in the process but given the recent bus crash in southeast England nobody is really safe. Everyone is vulnerable. Everyone is a potential victim. The darkness can and will consume us all.
Even one of God’s writers knew and experienced the darkness. In the middle of a vision where there was an important scroll ready to be presented and read, nobody seemed able to take on the task. The darkness of the moment comes creeping out through his words.
“I also saw a powerful Angel, calling out in a voice like thunder, ‘Is there anyone who can open the scroll, who can break its seals?’ There was no one—no one in Heaven, no one on earth, no one from the underworld—able to break open the scroll and read it.” (Revelation 5.1, 2)
Darkness is never the enemy; it is life’s reality. The danger lies in losing hope, especially when the darkness overwhelms. God has already won the battle and the war. With faith, victory is ours.
